eclectic - defined

Moving day, or "Where to find my blog now"

2007-04-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, kids. I'm moving. Yes, I know, I know.... you're going to whine about how we'll have to make new friends, get used to a new home, figure out how to arrange the cupboards, learn our way around, all the usual complaints when one moves. I like to look at all that as an adventure, a fresh start, and a chance to throw out some stuff I never use, sort of like doing a major spring cleaning. I really like the new home. I like the layout of the house, the new wallpaper, the fresh clean look and feel. I love the landscaping at the new place. It's very easy to care for, and making changes is super simple. So, please come visit. I'll have a housewarming really soon. In the meantime, update your address books with my new address, okay? I really don't want to lose touch with anyone!

It's still eclecticdefined, but it's at WordPress.com instead of Blogger.com (if you want to enter it manually, it's http://eclecticdefined.wordpress.com).

By the way, there are some really nice homes in the neighborhood and the prices are great! You can even select your floor plan, colors, cabinets, etc. Maybe you need to move too! I've added a feed to the sidebar on the left that will show the three most recent posts to that blog. I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for you all to get to my new digs.

Charlie posted

2007-04-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, for those of you how don't have an RSS feed for Charlie's blogs, he has posted two things on his "Thanks for all the Fish" blog. Check it out.

WordPress Blog

2007-04-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

For a variety of reasons, I decided to check out WordPress. It's another blogging site. Since I have not decided to move completely to WordPress, I am running both blogs simultaneously. It's easy to import all your lovely posts from Blogger into WordPress, though you can't import your template and various customizations. If you're a CSS whiz, it's a piece of cake I suspect. For those of us who are somewhat challenged in this area, it's not that easy. But they do have some nice templates from which one can select. WordPress has some advantages over Blogger, and some disadvantages. If you're interested, check it out. http://eclecticdefined.wordpress.com. It's still a work in progress. I have yet to figure out all the cool things I can do. For an idea of what all you can do, click the link in my blogroll on the left here to Emoglasses. That's my son's freshman roommate's blog. He's been on WordPress for a long time now and has all sorts of nifty widgets and whatnot in his sidebar.

Oh yeah, if you put your cursor over any of the links in my sidebar on the new blog, this cool add-in shows you a thumbnail of the site. Pretty neat.

What is that strange, bright thing in the sky?

2007-04-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

Oh, I know! It's Helios in his chariot. Duh!

Seriously, it's supposed to be pretty nice today - partly cloudy, highs in the mid-60's. I can live with that. Oldest Son and his family are staying at The Daughter's house. They're all going up skiing today. Should be perfect up there.

The Daughter-in-law really wants to move to town. I guess she's tired of living in the city, and since everything they love to do is here - jet ski, ski, go to the beach, visit family - it makes sense to LIVE here. They both sell property and casualty insurance, so can pretty much work from anywhere in the area - Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, or Sandpoint - so that won't be an issue. What is an issue to Oldest Son and Granddaughter 1, is basketball. Granddaughter 1 is an avid (even rabid) basketball player. She has been playing since she was 7 or 8. She's now nearly 13. She plays AAU basketball year round. She is now playing junior high basketball as well. The level of competition here, well, in all of North Idaho, leaves a lot to be desired. Our high school girl's basketball team finished 2 and 20 last year. Oldest Son finds that problematic. But the reality is, Granddaughter 1 will probably not play basketball much beyond 9th grade in Spokane unless she gets dramatically better, and grows about 5 inches. Moving here is a quality of life decision. Basketball should not be the deal breaker or maker. Daughter-in-law is frustrated. They have a 4 year-old too. The decision has to be what's best for all of them, not just GD1.

At the mere mention of moving here, GD1 gets emotional. Last night, she went crying from the room. I found her and told her, "don't cry about it now. It's all just talk so far. When they start packing up your bedroom, then you can cry." She laughed. I harassed her for not being thrilled that she could come visit me every single day if she wanted to if they lived here. She laughed a little at that.

I know what she's feeling. We moved constantly when I was a kid - a new school and town every year from 1st grade through 6th grade. I'm convinced my dad was/is ADD. He'd get bored with his job, and we'd move. When I was a freshman in high school, he announced we were going to move from Santa Maria, CA to Williams, CA. At first I cried. Then I got used to the idea and kind of got excited (I'm one of those silver lining kind of people). Williams would be in the mountains with trees, snow, and cool stuff like that (I was a kid who'd never even seen snow falling from the sky). It never panned out, and I was actually disappointed. The next year my parents divorced. I wondered for a long time if things would have been different had we moved to Williams.

I think moving here would be really good for Oldest Son's family for a lot of reasons. They really could stand to spend more time with the family and get out of the city and all its distractions. They could really stand to play a lot less basketball. But those are decisions they'll have to make. This isn't the first time they've looked into moving here. It probably won't happen. I'm not getting my hopes up, and I'll encourage GD1 not to worry - yet.

Now I have to go make my bed. Lorraine made me feel guilty.

I have a new cat

2007-04-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

Well, not really, but it seems like it. You see, with this whole pet food scare, I started doing a little research. Fortunately, none of the food I've been feeding my cat are part of the recall - yet. But as I've mentioned before, my cat pretty much eats her food, and almost immediately pukes it up, undigested. How it is that she's such a porker - about 12-14 pounds I suspect - given how much food comes OUT of her, is beyond me. I've tried expensive "all natural" foods that vow to cure your cat of everything you could imagine - and she still pukes. When dry food was added to the recall, I decided to consider making our own cat food. I found a site called catnutrition.org with instructions for doing just that. But more importantly, there was a link to an article that was published in the Journal of Veterinary Medicine, about what cats should be eating, versus what we all feed them. It was as though someone had switched on a light bulb. Duh! What does a cat do when it's left to its own devices? It catches mice, birds, rabbits (yes, I had cats that brought down rabbits), basically rodents of every imaginable variety, fish, and eats them, puking up the parts that don't digest, like feathers, fur, some bones, and so on. Cats are obligate carnivores - or true carnivores. They don't eat corn, wheat, rice, carrots, apples, stuff like that. Yet, we feed them cereal based food. About the only non-meat item cats eat is grass. A cat needs 5 times as much protein as a dog! And their systems are not designed to handle a lot of carbohydrates very well. That's why all our cats fed kibble get fat - they don't know what to do with all that cereal, so it's stored as fat. It's also why they develop kidney, thyroid, and pancreatic problems. It really makes so much sense. A dog will eat pretty much anything, even in the wild. Cats eat critters, and little else.

No way was I going to put in the time to make this raw food. As The Daughter pointed out, I can barely make meals for The Spouse and myself (not for lack of skill, simply lack of time), let alone the cat. She made this comment in a room filled with the Oldest Son, three grandkids, The Spouse, the Son-in-Law, and me, and it was followed by much laughter, especially by the oldest granddaughter. But the concept of what the cat should be eating, as opposed to what she has been eating, made total sense to me. So, when I went to the store, I sought out cat food that was composed of meat and good fats, not cereal. I discovered that all the Fancy Feast canned food contains wheat gluten - the culprit in this catastrophe - with the exception of the fish meals. They contain no cereals. The worst thing I could see on the labels was guar gum, and since I know that's just a thickener, and it was way down on the list, I wasn't too worried. I bought several flavors of the fish meals - fish and shrimp, trout, salmon, etc. That night, I removed her dry food and gave her half a can of the Fancy Feast. She devoured it - and no puking. The next morning, she got another half a can. Now, these are the small cans, so she's not getting a lot of food. I half expected her to down the portion I gave her and come begging for more, but that was not the case. For the past four days, she's had only the canned food,with a few little dry treats thrown in to help keep her teeth in shape. Since I'm not making the raw food, she's not getting bones to keep her teeth clean and strong, so I will be giving her some tartar control treats every couple of days. For the past four days she has not puked once. And she is suddenly frisky and active and silly. She is like a kitten again. I am amazed. She wakes me up at 4 AM, which is not all that cool, but she does it by patting my face with her paw over and over, like she wants to play. She is a new cat. I am so amazed what this food change has done, but it makes so much sense. Maybe, when the days are longer, I will undertake making the raw food, because ideally, cats need RAW meat, not cooked meat. But for now, I am relying on Fancy Feast.

Italy - I want to go there!

2007-04-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

I talked to YS via IM this morning. He is loving Italy. He is in the Lake Como area right now, specifically today he was in Bellagio (I thought that was a casino in Las Vegas). He said that no picture he could take could show how amazingly beautiful it is there. This is from a kid who's been to the Lake Louise and Banff in the amazing Canadian Rockies, to Yellowstone, to Scotland and the Isle of Skye, and who has been in France for the past two months. He said The Spouse and I have to go to Como. I asked him if his dad would be bored there. He said "you guys like small towns with nothing to do, right? LOL." He reiterated that it is awesomely beautiful. He spent two days in Florence before arriving in Como, and loved it. Unfortunately, they didn't have a lot of time, so he didn't get to go inside the Duomo!!! He didn't climb the 436 steps to the top of the dome - Brunelleschi's famously beautiful dome. How sad. From what I've seen of Italy in travelogues, you need at least 3 days in Florence to see the major sights. He did see Michelangelo's David and went to the Uffizi Gallery, though his lack of art history classes meant he didn't recognize most of the artists. I, on the other hand, am an avid fan of Italian Renaissance art, and seeing a real live Giotto or Caravaggio in person would make me cry. He did appreciate the artwork, though he wasn't familiar with the artists.

I am watching a DVD called Visions of Italy and it is breathtaking. It is shot from a helicopter, and the two DVDs cover all of Italy. I am watching the part on Rome right now. I have to go there. I watched the part on Northern Italy earlier, and it showed the Lake Como area, specifically Bellagio. It really is breathtakingly beautiful. I have decided that I want to spend the rest of my life traveling around Europe. I'll be taking donations on my special website so you can all contribute to this worthy cause. Sigh.

Now, back to reality. It's sunny today, and I think it's supposed to be near 70. I will go for a nice walk at lunch. For now, it's tme to hit the showers. Ciao, mi amici!

Was this the intent?

2007-04-04T07:26:00.000-07:00

I admit it. I watch the train wreck that is American Idol. I usually zip through the show (thank you, TiVo) and stop to hear the songs and the judges' comments. Paula's are completely worthless. Randy's are somewhat meaningful, but now and then... Only Simon's have any real value, in my opinion. He is honest, albeit brutally so at times, but he doesn't sweet talk the contestants like Paula does, and he doesn't gloss over their flaws. He calls it as he sees it. Anyway, I digress. This season is kind of weird, Sanjaya insanity aside. For those of you who don't watch the show and have no clue who Sanjaya is, he is this year's contestant who has no business being this far along in the competition. There is one every year. Unfortunately, it's gotten out of control this year, and I'm afraid Sanjaya will be in the competition way, way too long.

Anyway, there are two kinds of contestants this year. There are true amateurs - kids who have only sung in church or in a school musical or choir, and then there are the pros. One of the contestants, who consistently outshines all the others both in vocal and performance quality, has been a backup singer for Michael McDonald, Anointed, Mandisa, Aaron Neville, Jonny Lang, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Alabama (band) and CeCe Winans. Given that résumé, shouldn't she be an amazing vocalist and know how to perform? And she's not the only pro in this year's contest. So, is it fair to the others? And does this change what American Idol was supposed to be all about? I think so. One thing I used to like about the show was watching the kids go from being really good singers, albeit a little geeky and awkward, to really amazing performers. This season, that has been the case with only two contestants - Jordin Sparks, a 17 year-old who sings like nobody's business, and LaKisha Jones, a single mom who has undergone an amazing physical transformation along the lines of Clay Aiken's, though her singing has always been incredible. The rest of the contestants are virtually unchanged from when the contest started, both as far as singing ability and appearance are concerned. They are either good or not, and that hasn't changed. One contestant I really like is Blake Lewis. This kid is going places, no matter where he finishes in the contest. He is unique, talented, cute, and can dance. Oh, and he's from the Pacific Northwest. So is Sanjaya, but let's not mention him, okay?

So, is it fair to let "pros" compete? Does it change the original intent of the show? It makes me hope the amateurs win.

Hamster tails, err tales

2007-03-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

Continuing from below....

In college, for a bit, my ex and I lived in married students' housing. No pets were allowed. Well, no cats or dogs. You could have birds, fish, rodents, anything but a cat or dog. We were animal people. We wanted a cat. We settled for hamsters - the beige teddy bear hamsters that were so popular in the early 70's. We wanted a gerbil, but they were (are they still?) illegal in California. So, we got these two adorable hamsters and played with them constantly. We also had two tropical fish tanks, a canary, a parakeet, and two chinchillas. I told you. We were animal people.

The hamsters lived in this tall wire cage with a great wheel in it, and lots of steps they could go up and down. This was before Habitrails came out. I think we did eventually have one of those balls you put them in and let them roll all over the floor in. Anyway, these guys, of course, had kids - usually four at a time. We sold them to the local pet store. But they became really adept at getting out of their cage. The male would lift the door over and over and over again, endlessly. At first, it wasn't a concern because he couldn't lift it far - a quarter inch or so. But eventually he figured out how to open it and get a limb under it to keep it open for a second or two. The female caught wind of what he was up to. Next thing we knew, she was sneaking out under the door to freedom. We snatched her and put her back in the cage, figuring this was a fluke. Of course, it wasn't. They eventually learned how to get out of the cage together. We'd get up and find them in all sorts of places - in the laundry, under the bed, everywhere. We'd put them in the cage, try to figure out some way to keep them from lifting the door, and they'd find a way out.

Their cage was in the spare bedroom on the second floor, so finding them was pretty easy - there were only two bedrooms and a bathroom on the floor, and it was not a big place. One morning, I went downstairs to make coffee. I noticed that my small schefflera (umbrella plant)was knocked over. I went to pick it up, and saw that it was pretty much gone. What I mean is, something had eaten the plant to the stalk! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. Mr. Hamster was scurrying around the living room. In another corner of the room was Mrs. Hamster. These two little rodents had escaped their cage and gotten down the stairs and were eating my plants. Now, the floors in this apartment were uncarpeted, old-fashioned asphalt tile floors everywhere but the living room, where there was carpet. The steps were slippery. We could not imagine how the hamsters had made it down an entire flight of stairs. So, we scooped them up, put them back in the cage, and decided to watch them. They had become so adept at escaping from the cage by now, that in a matter of seconds, they were out and headed for their veggie feast downstairs. It was then that we noticed the narrow strip of wood that lined the stairway on both side - sort of like the baseboard for the steps. These little rascals were scurrying down that strip of wood like it was the Bonneville Salt Flats. They were downstairs in seconds. We laughed like idiots. Being the starving college students we were, we couldn't afford a new cage, and the construction of the one we had pretty much precluded being able to lock the cage door shut, so we took the whole shebang to the pet store and sold them back to him.

Then there's the chinchilla story...but another time.

That reminds me....

2007-03-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

Jon's post about the great hamster disaster of '69 made me laugh - and remember. It made me remember two stories, actually.

When I was in the 4th grade, we lived in a trailer park in Cathedral City, CA, outside Palm Springs. The hills behind the trailer park - the "Sage & Sand Trailer Park" to be exact - were nothing but rocks. No trees, no vegetation, just big rocky hills. This family of kids with whom we'd become friends had a really cool fort up in the hills. It was a cleft in the rocks, set back where two hills came together. It was really, really cool. So of course, we played Army and tried to take over their fort. We never succeeded. But what really sucked was that we didn't have a fort of our own. We were newcomers. All the good forts were already taken. So, in a gesture totally out of character for them, my parents hiked up into the hills with us and helped us build a fort. It was pretty bleak. It was basically a ring of rocks piled about a foot high, in the middle of the blazing sun, on the side of this rocky hill. We gussied it up (I'm using that word a lot today) by making "rooms" in our fort. We did this by dividing the big circle with "walls" of rocks piled about a foot high. It wasn't nearly as cool as our friends' fort, but it was ours. And of course, the other kids wanted it, so we had tons of fun playing Army and trying to capture each others' forts.

So, what does all this have to do with hamsters, you ask? Well, that year my mom decided to get us some white mice. Maybe she was using them for sex ed. I'm not sure what prompted her, because she wasn't big on rodents as pets, especially mice. Nevertheless, we had a pair of white mice. And before long, we had 10 white mice. I remember watching them being born. And like Jon's hamster, one of the parents decided to make a meal from some of the babies. But we rescued most of them by removing the offending parent (I'm sure it was the father mouse). Like most little kids, we four were enthralled with the mice. We carried them everywhere with us, played with them non-stop, the usual. But mice stink. I'm not sure if it was Mom or Dad who decided we'd had them long enough, but the time came to get rid of them. We four kids were crying and begging to be allowed to keep them. A compromise was reached. We could let the mice live in our fort - in the rock walls. We kids thought that was perfect. They would live there, we'd see them every day, feed them, etc. I don't know what we were smoking. I think I caught a knowing look pass between my parents, but didn't have a clue what it meant.

Off we went to release our little rodent friends into the walls of our fort. We played with them in their box for a while, then it was time to go home. We bid them goodbye, vowing to return the next day to play with them. I'm sure you can figure out what happened next. Lots of tears, and suggestions as to where they might have traveled off to when they escaped their rock-wall home, and several attempts by me for days thereafter to locate the mice among the rocks that covered the hills, all unsuccessful of course. My little 10-year-old mind imagined them all playing and scurrying about the rocks. My 52-year-old mind realizes they were probably some snake's or owl's dinner that very night.

I have a hamster story next.

Since I can't go home...

2007-03-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd post. I am too blah to actually work.

I have eyebrow envy. I have these very skimpy eyebrows that disappear into my face if I don't gussy them up. It's a hereditary thing. My dad and my brother have half eyebrows. There is nothing from the middle, where the arch should be, to the end. Zip. Nada. Mine at least have a few straggly hairs. But a little eyebrow powder, and an angled brush do wonders, and most people who know me have no idea that my eyebrows are brushed on - until I go swimming. Then, my dirty little secret is exposed as I emerge from the water missing a major facial feature. I'm seriously considering having them tattooed on.

Since I have these pathetic eyebrows, I notice beautiful eyebrows, a lot. Gwen Stefani has great eyebrows. So does Paula Abdul. I noticed them both while watching a little of the most boring season of American Idol ever. I want beautiful eyebrows. I envy women with beautiful eyebrows. The Daughter has perfect eyebrows. I wish I had Brooke Shields' eyebrows because with heavy brows, you can have them waxed into the perfect shape. With non-existent brows, you're screwed. Candace Bergen has great eyebrows. I don't. And the problem with having to create eyebrows every day is, they're never the same twice. Some days they look great. Other days they're too thick, too skimpy, not arched enough. It's such a pain. Is it too much to ask to just have eyebrows like one of these three ladies? I think not.

I think I've caught Lorraine's flu

2007-03-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning, when I was at the workshop on wikis and podcasts, I wasn't feeling too well. During the morning section, I had the chills, and sort of ached all over. I just wanted to put my head down and sleep. When we went to lunch between the workshops, I ate nothing, just sipped some tea. I took a couple of Advil capsules, and within an hour, I felt great. I chalked it up to PMS or lack of sleep the night before. This morning, every joint in my body aches. I'm super tired and didn't sleep well at all last night. My stomach is unsettled, and I'm a little warm, although I don't have the chills. I have taken a total of 5 ibuprofen caplets so far, and I still ache. I don't know how long I'm going to last here at work. My dilemma is, I'm the boss today. Every other supervisor is gone. If there is some sort of patron issue, I'm the go-to gal. I would feel like I've abandoned ship if I leave. So, I'm sticking it out until noon. If I'm not feeling hella better by then, I'm going to go home and sleep all afternoon.

Spring Break = Rome, Florence, and Milan

2007-03-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

Don't you wish you were a college kid embarking on Spring Break? When I was in college, Spring Break meant I could pick up more hours at the restaurant because I wasn't in class. I never got to go on any wild Spring Break trips. I had rent and bills to pay. Youngest Son, on the other hand, as you all well know, is in France, and tonight he embarks on his 9 day trip to Italy. He and five of his female classmates are leaving at 7:30 PM Paris time for Rome. The timing is perfect. It's supposed to snow in Paris tomorrow, but it should be sunny and breezy in Rome. While I would love to talk to him every night to hear about his impression of our native country, he'll be roaming on his cell, and incoming calls, instead of being free, will cost nearly 1 euro a minute, so calls will be limited to, "we got to Rome safely" or, "we have arrived at the hostel in Florence safely". I can't wait for photos.

Speaking of photos, he has uploaded about 250 photos from his trip thus far. His most recent addition was nearly 100 photos from Normandy, so click the link on the left and take a look (the hyperlink that says France Study Program, not the slideshow).

Now, off to the shower for me.

Is it Spring yet?

2007-03-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

The calendar says it is, and today, the sunshine outside confirms the calendar's statement. Yesterday it was actually in the high 50's! Sadly, I was chained to my desk for most of the day, and never got to take advantage of the gorgeous day. Today I will remedy that situation. I plan to walk at lunch today - come hell or high water. I have to get while the getting is good. It's supposed to snow on Sunday and Monday. Yeah, you read that right. Snow. That's proof that it's definitely Spring. Spring is nature's nickname for schizophrenia.

Honi Kaua Wiki Wiki

2007-03-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

Today I have been at a workshop - two actually. Workshop 1 was on podcasting. It's something we may start using at the library for storytimes, weekly announcements, etc. Workshop 2 was on wikis. Okay, this one is cool. I have actually started a wiki at the library on our staff page. What we did as an exercise in this workshop today was create a wiki of our own. So, I created, logically, "eclecticdefined wiki". Once I get something useful on it, I'll post the link. I MAY move it to a different wiki host. The place I'm on at the moment is okay, but the templates are way limited, and they want a monthly fee to get the cool stuff - $10 a month to be precise. There are other free options, which I will be looking into.

As for the post title, when I was a kid, my little sister was about 5, my uncle was an executive for Hertz. He lived in Honolulu. He visited the mainland often. He taught us the above sentence - "honi kaua wiki wiki" - which means "kiss me quick" in Hawaiian. My little sister's nickname was "Rikki". My uncle would say "honi kaua wiki wiki, Rikki" and she would wrinkle up her nose and run to him to give him a kiss. She became our trained pet. We took great pleasure in shouting "honi kaua wiki wiki" to her at the most random moments, and she would obligingly come running, face all squinched up, to give us a kiss. Very cute. So, I knew what "wiki" meant long before it became a cool tech thing. And, by the way, wikis are way, way, way cool!

Workshop is over, so now it's time for the long drive home.

Quickly

2007-03-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

I have promised to finish this one computer project TODAY, so this is going to be really short. I have decided not to post on "hot" topics again. It just isn't what I wanted this blog to be about, usually. Unfortunately, most of my blog buddies are of the opposite political persuasion than I, so I am sure reading my thoughts, however thoughtfully I try to explain them, probably isn't enlightening or entertaining. In fact, it probably has some of them clenching their teeth and shaking their heads in frustration. I know that because that's how I sometimes react to some comments and posts on some of my blog buddies' blogs. It's okay that we don't agree on everything, but I want readers of this blog to laugh, to be entertained, to be uplifted, maybe enlightened, not to get all knotted up inside with frustration and aggravation, wanting to whack me over the head with the "come to your senses" whacker. So, no more political posts for me. From now on, it's all fun and games on eclectic defined! Enjoy.

Spring Things

2007-03-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

My crocuses are blooming! I pulled away the dead leaf mulch that has protected them all winter to reveal their gold and purple blooms. I won't actually get to see them open until this weekend, since they are still closed when I leave in the morning, and are closed for the night when I get home. I love these colorful little welcomers of Spring. Soon, I'll see my Siberian Squill poke their little blooms up. The greenery of the daffodils and tulips is coming up - thrusting up through the cold, wet dirt higher and higher each day. Even our grass is greening up.

I was going to take a picture of my fingernails. I like to call my current look the "garden manicure". The dirt you get under your nails is so hard to get out, and who has time for gloves when you're doing some impromptu gardening as you're heading to the car on your way to work? So, my right hand has traces of dirt embedded under my nails, and the nails themselves are sort of ragged, while my left hand, which was holding my purse and cell phone during this little gardening moment, has nice, clean, smooth nails. So gauche.

This weekend will certainly entail some serious gardening, unless it snows, which has been known to happen in late March. Heck, it's been known to happen on July 4th! Anyway, I'm going to get all my pots ready, plant some actual seeds, put them in my actual little greenhouse, and maybe, for once, have my own pony packs to start my flowerpots instead of having to go buy them. Yeah, that's my plan. Let's see if it pans out.

(It was time to get off politics and controversy and back to more fun topics.)

I'm not trying to make waves

2007-03-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

In a comment on my rant about politicians, and specifically regarding global warming, Sara referred to "the legimate (peer-reviewed) scientific evidence that is in overwhelming abundance", stating that, "It's a known tactic of these sort of groups and politicians [those who don't necessarily buy into the belief that global warming is anthropogenic]* to try and plant a seed of doubt in people's minds regarding the scientific validity. (see also, "evolution is only a theory!")"

Here is a link to a document listing numerous peer-reviewed papers that refute components of the global warming argument. Not all the scientists who disagree are quacks, funded by oil companies, whose works no peer-reviewed publication will print. I'm sure there are those who will quickly point out that the source of this list is the "infamous" Friends of Science organization, who clearly has an agenda. Duh. Who else is going to provide a list of papers refuting global warming theories than an organization whose agenda is just that? Does that make this list any less valid? Does it make the list less valid than one citing papers upholding global warming theories presented by, say, Greenpeace?

If one wants to take an informed stance on any issue, one must be willing to study both sides of an argument with an open mind. To often people claim to have read "the other side's position" and found it lacking, when the reality is, they've read it with the attitude that it's going to be bunk, and they scoff at any argument presented by the opposition viewpoint. I am really, really trying to understand this subject, so I am open to everything I can find on it. I am not going to automatically dismiss scientists who might be funded by oil companies in favor of those funded by environmentalists. Both sides have their biased points of view. I will try to discern their biases, try to determine who is funding their work, but I'll also try to find out as much about the scientist's background as possible to try to determine his/her credibility and standing in the scientific community.

In a lengthy, ongoing discussion on a LiveJournal blog on this topic, one with many, many comments by Tom Harris, the Executive Director of the NSRP, and during which he was NOT treated kindly at all, one of his most ardent detractors asked this:

"Would you be so kind as to present us with said list of the actual climatologists not associated with the IPCC who disagree with the findings of the IPPC FAR. I request just one more qualifier, - in addition to being actual climatologists (and not a geologist, or an engineer, or a broadcast meteorologist, etc.) - that they have recent, peer-reviewed papers on the subject of climate science in a journal which you will then cite."

This poster insisted that no reputable climatologist disagreed with the findings of the IPCC FAR. After being presented the above list, this poster said "I would concede some amount of skepticism is still out there."

That's all I'm saying....some skepticism is still out there among reputable climatologists. I'm trying to understand this issue as well as I can, so I'm not dismissing positions on either side of the issue just yet. I'm still undertaking research.

Oh, and as for Sara's comment meant to show how stupid it is to disbelieve in global warming by comparing it to those who are skeptical about evolution by saying "see also 'evolution is only a theory!'" - well, it is. The definitions of a scientific theory follow:

A comprehensive explanation of a given set of data that has been repeatedly confirmed by observation and experimentation and has gained general acceptance within the scientific community but has not yet been decisively proven. See also hypothesis and scientific law.
http://college.hmco.com/geology/resources/geologylink/glossary/t.html

And....A theory is generally only taken seriously if it:
is tentative, correctable and dynamic, in allowing for changes to be made as new data is discovered, rather than asserting certainty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory

And finally:
A theory is a well-substantiated explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can incorporate laws, hypotheses and facts. The theory of gravitation, for instance, explains why apples fall from trees and astronauts float in space. Similarly, the theory of evolution explains why so many plants and animals—some very similar and some very different—exist on Earth now and in the past, as revealed by the fossil record.
American Museum of Natural History

I suspect Sara was referring to those who use the term "theory" to mean "an untested hunch, or a guess without supporting evidence", and there are those people out there. Evolution is most assuredly not that kind of theory, but it is a theory.

I'm either boring, or....

2007-03-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

I'm surprised by the lack of comments lately. Though, not really. I mean, how interested are most of my fellow bloggers in NCAA basketball? Obviously, not too. And the post this morning - well, I suspect some people just don't know what to say. That's okay.

I did "meet" a really interesting person, thanks to my post on Duke University. He has two kids who graduated from Duke, lives in CA, and is a really interesting fellow. We may even actually meet some day over dinner. And he's invited us to his new condo in Zihuatanejo when it's finished being constructed. Pretty cool, huh? I've always wanted to go to somewhere in Mexico other than Tijuana. Anyway, I'm not going to reveal his identity, but he's a really bright guy who has been instrumental in bringing some life-changing medical technologies to market. He calls himself a serial entrepreneur. He's quite well respected in that industry, and we'd never have "met" had it not been for my Duke post, so yay Blogger! Turns out we share the same opinion about the Duke lacrosse rape scandal/hoax/tragedy. That gave us lots to talk about.

I'll try to be more interesting/entertaining so my "fans" will return.

New France Photos

2007-03-21T16:26:00.000-07:00

If you click the link to the left to "France Study Program" you can see a bunch of new photos from France. Youngest Son uploaded about 80 pictures today. Obviously, there are some photos that will be boring to people who don't know him or his classmates, but he's got some nice shots of Strasbourg and Paris. He didn't have time to caption them all yet, so you won't necessarily know what they're of. I tried to put captions on things I knew. Anyway, take a look.

I hate politicians

2007-03-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Rant Alert!

Why do I subject myself to cable news? I am sitting here talking to the TV as I listen to an idiot senator (not naming names) being interviewed. Okay, maybe idiot is a harsh and inappropriate term, but still. The topic is global warming. I don't purport to be an expert on this topic. I do think that all our emissions are not doing the environment or climate any favors, but how much of what's going on with the weather in the world can actually be attributed to them, I don't think anyone knows for sure. There are a multitude of hypotheses and theories being bandied about. The thing that got me aggravated this morning was this senator's response to the newscaster when he made the following comment, and asked the following question:

Newscaster: "There are extremists on both sides, and likely the truth is somewhere in the middle. How do you protect the environment without costing jobs in America?"

Senator: "Okay here's the deal: when you're dealing with science and fact and truth, it's not about going into the middle....you say 'who are the scientists who know what they're talking about?' and that's what I have to do." (Okay, what makes this senator qualified to determine THAT?) "I represent 37 million people in my state....this isn't an issue where you split the difference....when you're dealing with science, when you're dealing with life and death, you don't split the difference, you find out what the science is..." (Again, this senator's qualifications in sifting through the varied opinions by respected scientists on this topic are what?) Note, the question has not been answered.

Newscaster: "and there are debates among scientists about the science"
Senator: "no, not really." (No, not really?!?!?!)

This senator then went on to accuse the newscaster of "echoing James Inhofe", who has called global warming a hoax, and gave no credibility whatsoever to the fact that there is a debate among scientists about global warming. The newscaster made it clear that he was not calling it a hoax. That didn't appease this senator, who kept reiterating that there are "1000 scientists who have come out with the IPCC saying that now is the time to do something about the climate." And yet there is this: "...there is no evidence that we are, or could ever cause global climate change. Recently, Yuri A. Izrael, Vice President of the United Nations sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed this statement." - Dr. Tim Ball.

Who is Dr. Tim Ball?

"Dr. Tim Ball, Chairman of the Natural Resources Stewardship Project, is a renowned environmental consultant and former professor of climatology at the University of Winnipeg. Dr. Ball has served on many local and national committees and as Chair of Provincial boards on water management, environmental issues and sustainable development. Dr. Ball’s extensive science background in climatology, especially the reconstruction of past climates and the impact of climate change on human history and the human condition, make him the ideal head of NRSP as we move into our first campaign, Understanding Climate Change. His extensive public speaking experience and presentations to professional societies, business conferences, public forums and a wide variety of public, private and non-profit organizations make him the ideal spokesperson for NRSP as well."

Again, I am not taking a position in this post either believing or disbelieving in global warming. I'm just pointing out that there IS disagreement in the scientific community - respected, renowned scientists, not crackpots - on the topic. What makes this senator qualified enough to determine which scientists "know what they're talking about"? I suspect it's those who agree with the senator's position. Politicians!

The other reason I hate politicians is all this crap that's going on in Congress. Look, if you're a Democrat, you are thrilled to smithereens that the administration is finally "getting their due." They're being called on the carpet for all their suspected misdeeds. Heads are going to roll. Democrats are ebullient. News flash. Do you not remember when the shoe was on the other foot, back when Newt and the gang finally wrested control of Congress away from the Dems, and went after Bill, Hillary, and their cohorts? You all cried foul, loudly and frequently. Republicans were gleeful. Dems were pissed. They complained about all the time that was being wasted on subpoenas and hearings that were nothing more than witch hunts. But now that they are the ones issuing subpoenas and holding hearings, it's justfied, it's about time, it's necessary. Please. It is ALL just politics as usual. Both sides. I'm sick of it.

Politicians are, on both sides of the aisle, self-centered, money-grubbing, slime bags who only care about making themselves look good so they can get re-elected, or get elected President some day. I know, I am such a cynic. I believe that they don't care about you and me. They only care about their perqs (yes, that is the correct spelling - short for perquisites), their privileges, their paychecks, their power, and little else. Okay, there are the few decent politicians, the ones who really do want to effect change, who really do care about their constituency. Sadly, they either don't last long on the national scene, or they turn to the dark side. All this hearing-holding, subpoena-issuing, finger pointing, is nothing more than politics as usual, and I'm sick and tired of it. DO SOMETHING important. Fix income tax. Fix health care. Stop trying to prove the guys on the other side of the aisle are the devil incarnate. Stop posturing. Please.

Oh, and Al Gore, before making a statement in his appearance before Congress this morning on global warming about "reaching across the aisle to solve global warming", refused to listen to the GOP's opening statements at that hearing. Yeah, that's really reaching across the aisle, Al. Maybe he was out buying carbon credits.

Rant Alert off.

Cat food scare

2007-03-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know you all know about the big scare, and yes, I emailed Lorraine about it and was glad to hear The Cat was not a victim of tainted food. What got me was that I had been feeding that exact stuff - the cuts and gravy pouch food by Nutro, and sometimes by Special Kitty, to my cat until a few months ago. I never thought I'd be happy about her puking, but the fact is, 1 out of every 3 times I fed her this food, she'd puke it up. I figured she just has a tender tummy and probably ate too quickly, but I got tired of paying 59 cents a pouch, just to have to pick it up off the floor a few minutes after she consumed it, so I stopped giving her anything but dry food. I feel like I've dodged a bullet.

The Daughter feeds her cat and dog both Eukanuba food. They didn't know about the recall until I told them about it. They inspected their cans, and they are not in the recalled batches, thankfully. When I mentioned how insane it is that we both were buying this expensive food - Eukanuba, Nutro, Iams - only to discover it's made by the same company that makes the store brands - WalMart's Special Kitty, Safeway's Western Family, etc. - my son-in-law got all defensive. He swears they are different foods, and that the vet recommended them so they must be better. And after all, what did the vet have to gain by recommending Eukanuba over Special Kitty? Yeah, okay, and I have this swamp land in Florida for sale. I'm sure he'll keep buying Eukanuba, convinced that it's superior to the store brands. My cat is sticking to dry food. I hope no more pets get sick or die. I told my kitty I loved her today, and she's been snuggled up to me all day. She's 10, and though that's not old for a cat, especially an indoor cat, you never know.

Bracketology

2007-03-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big sports fan. I just live with one, and I raised one, so I am exposed to sports whether I like it or not. Generally speaking, I don't like pro sports, but who doesn't watch a little NFL football now and then, even maybe root for a sentimental favorite on occasion? And it's tough to escape the World Series, or The Masters, or Wimbledon. We live in a very sports-oriented society. I have my personal favorites among the various pro sports teams. I like the Seattle Mariners, but I also like the New York Yankees. I'm a fan of the Indianapolis Colts, even if they are supposed to be in Baltimore, and the Oakland/LA/Oakland Raiders (thank God they went back home to Oakland). My sentimental favorites will always be the San Francisco 49'ers and the Green Bay Packers - two teams who really would have to disband if they ever considered moving. Can you imagine the Los Angeles Packers or the St. Louis 49'ers? Seriously. But generally speaking, pro sports leave me a little cold.

I do, however, enjoy a little college sports on a fairly regular basis. I like college basketball and football, especially around playoff time. Heck, the football bowls are inescapable during the holiday season. Who hasn't watched the Rose Bowl at least once? And March Madness has overtaken television. All my favorite shows are on hiatus while the NCAA tournament is being played. As I mentioned below, I like Duke a lot, as does The Spouse. My oldest son is a diehard Tar Heels fan (U of North Carolina and Duke's arch rival), and has been since he was about 8. It makes for some interesting banter between The Spouse and him during basketball season.

The oldest son likes fantasy sports, and participates in a fantasy football league each year. This year he got us involved in a contest they're having on espn.com. He setup a group, and had each of us create our brackets for the tournament. You pick who you think will win each matchup, all the way to the championship game, and put in a score for the final game as a tie-breaker. While you're doing your bracket, you can't see what the other people have put in until the day the playoffs start, at which time, all the brackets are locked and no changes can be made. Obviously, that's so you can't go copying someone else's bracket. Well, I put my bracket in all on my own. Some of my picks were based on things I've heard commentators say, some on what I've seen when I've been forced to watch games, some on sentimental reasons, and some were just outright guesses. The Spouse and Son made their choices based upon their keen knowledge of many of the teams, their players, records, etc. Some choices were sentimentally driven, but most choices were based upon facts. You can enter up to five brackets. The Spouse and I entered one each. Son entered three. After the first day of play, The Spouse and I were tied for first in our little group - and we were 100% - but Son's three brackets were not doing so well. One bracket was at 10%, the other two were at 20 and 40%. I, who knows nothing, was kicking Son's butt!

Friday, The Spouse and Oldest Son were in attendance at the first round in Spokane. They got to see Winthrop beat Notre Dame. The Spouse went on and on about how good Winthrop is, and how he hopes they beat Oregon. We hate Oregon in this neck of the woods. They also saw Oregon play Miami of Ohio; Texas, with their phenom, Kevin Durant, beat New Mexico State; and USC beat Arkansas. The Spouse commented on how gorgeous the Winthrop and the Oregon cheerleaders were. Of course. He also commented on how differently attired the cheerleaders from the West are from those from the South and East. The Southern and Eastern cheerleaders donned the classic cheerleader outfits, while the Western cheerleaders showed a lot more skin with very low cut and high rise tops, belly rings, super short skirts, and such. Interesting. Today, they are at the second round, where Winthrop will take on Oregon, and USC will take on Texas. The Spouse just called. They are down on the floor as the teams are warming up, and he is astounded at how big these kids are. He said it makes him glad he's not a college kid wanting to play basketball, because he's a shrimp next to them. He said the girls are even more gorgeous close up. Of course. Play starts in an hour. I'm glad they're having fun.

After yesterday's play, my bracket is down to 52.9%. I picked Duke to go to the third round. They didn't. I picked Gonzaga to make it to the second round. They didn't. And another sentimental choice, I picked Washington State to advance to the third round, where I had them losing to Georgetown. That won't happen. But I did pick Xavier to win in the first round, and they did. And I've picked Tennessee to beat UVA, and they may well do that (it's 64-59 with 3 minutes left). Another risk I took was picking Memphis to go all the way to the finals, where they'll lose to UNC - highly unlikely they'll get that far, but it was a gut thing. So, I'm caught up in bracketology, and it's kind of fun.

Duke basketball - always winners

2007-03-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

Even if you don't follow sports, if you live in the U.S. you've undoubtedly heard the term "March Madness", and by now, you know that it refers to the NCAA basketball playoffs, not the crazy weather for which March is known. I have to admit to getting caught up in this annual event for the past few years. I live with a man who went to college on a basketball scholarship, despite the fact that he's only 6 feet tall, and white, and we all know white men can't jump - except that he can. Still. At age 57. But that was also back in the dark ages - before the Michaels, the Lebrons, the Shaqs, the Kobes. It was back when most college basketball teams were populated largely by skinny, white guys, barely over 6 feet tall, in short, tight shorts, Converse All-Star sneakers, and really high socks. In that setting, he did well. He couldn't even warm the bench on one of today's teams. The athletic ability of the kids today is unbelievable, both the men and the women.

But I have some issues with college basketball. It's great that sports opens doors for so many kids, provides them with an education they probably couldn't afford otherwise, and even gets some kids to consider a college education when that may have been the last thing on their minds. The thing I don't like about Division I basketball and football (they're the ones giving athletic scholarships), is that in more cases than not, education takes a back seat to the sport. Far too often, a phenomenal high school basketball player gets a scholarship to one of the college basketball powerhouses, like University of North Carolina, goes to school for one year - until he's eligible for the NBA, (they can't go right out of high school anymore), then heads off to play pro ball. Or they play for two or three years, until they get the press that makes them worth more, and then go out to play in the NBA. These kids are not getting an education. They have nothing to fall back on if they get injured. They've usually been coddled all through school because of their athletic prowess, so they have very few skills that will help them make a living doing anything other than playing basketball. It makes me sad and angry. And it's not much different for the football players. They don't usually go pro until they're at least juniors because they need to mature physically, but all too many turn pro without getting a degree. These are the guys involved in night club shootings, attempted murders, drug arrests, and all around bad behavior. It's a sad commentary on our society.

And then there's Duke. Duke basketball's Coach K - Mike Krzyzewski (pronounced shi-shev-ski for those who have no clue) - is an amazing human being. His personal story is pretty inspirational. Beyond that, he is one helluva coach. He recruits a specific type of kid - not just the McDonald's All-American. He recruits kids who want a college education, who have future plans and goals outside of basketball, who have good values and morals, and who know how to be a part of a team and are not grandstanders. His players graduate more often than not. They may not go on to be the NBA stars, the Lebron Jameses or the Kobe Bryants, but they do go on to be doctors, business leaders, coaches, and teachers when their NBA careers are over. While in the NBA, a lot of them are role players on the team - they're the guy who helps the star be the star. They make the assists, they set the pick, they play defense. In a world populated by tattooed and pierced thugs out partying when they're not playing, making headlines for negative behavior, the former Dukies are quietly raising their families, playing the game, and preparing for their futures. Not everyone can get into Duke. They have rigorous standards for acceptance, even for star athletes. And despite the scandal of the alleged rape by the lacrosse team members (don't even get me started on that whole thing), I still have the utmost respect for the school, its leadership, and especially Coach K. This has been a tough year for Duke basketball fans. The team is young. They've had a very tough year. And for the first time since 1996, they were knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the first round. Despite the loss, the kids have won. They're getting an education at one of the finest schools in the country, and have been coached by one of the finest coaches in the country - a man who coaches not only players, but men, and it's highly likely that every one of them will graduate from Duke. That adds up to a win in my book. Now, my bracket? It's not looking too good at this point, but that's another post.

Food for Thought for Lent

2007-03-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

Lorraine, over at Here's The Thing, wrote a really thought-provoking piece on Lent. It made me a bit wistful for my Catholic roots. One thing I miss about Catholicism is the ritual, the tradition, the history. Practicing Catholics - not those folks who claim Catholicism as their religion, but those who live it - have all sorts of celebrations that we Protestants don't. And while it may seem silly to some, those celebrations help bring the focus of one's life back to Christianity. Whether it's celebrating a saint's day, and in doing so, remembering what made that saint saintly, what sacrifices they made, what their significance to Christianity is, or observing Lent, and walking through that desert along with Jesus, fasting, praying, denying ourselves, those traditions help make one's Christianity real and meaningful. That is not to say we non-denominational Christians don't strive for the same exact things, don't observe the same notable occasions, albeit differently - we do. It's just different. I don't know a lot of my Christian friends who pay a lot of attention to Lent, who give up stuff, who go into the desert for those 40 days preceding Easter. Maybe I know the wrong people. I know I have only given Lent a passing thought, and boy, could I stand to give up a few things - like food for one. Lorraine's post made me think about my faith, my relationship with my Lord, my relationship with people around me, and how much more I could be doing to show His love and His grace to them.

In addition to Lorraine's post, I received the monthly newsletter from Whitworth College not too long ago. The President of the school, Bill Robinson, is a really incredible man. The school would not have the character and atmosphere it has were he not the President. Each month he writes this newsletter - and it's not something he whips out in an hour folks. This is a really great newsletter. He begins it with a sort of monologue that almost always makes me cry, and never fails to make me think. And since we're on the subject of Lent, here's an excerpt from this month's newsletter that is right in line with Lorraine's post:

This is the first Sunday of Lent. At once, I am grateful and dumbfounded by God's grace. I am not, however, in church. I had to travel today because I was home yesterday watching our men's basketball team win the conference championship. So I admit to feeling a little more basketball happiness than Lenten contrition. I do, however, have one Lenten thought. Just before I started writing this, my iPod vaulted ruthlessly from 22 sacred choral arrangements to a decidedly non-sacred song about chasing women. Today's text in the liturgical calendar is Matthew 4, Christ's temptations. It struck me that Satan's opening salvo was not tempting Jesus with something bad (like chasing women) but with something good: bread (whole wheat, no doubt). Jesus liked bread. He turned a little of it into lots of it when 5,000 people were hungry. He honored it as the food to memorialize his broken body. We're probably less prepared to resist the temptation of good things than that of bad things. But good things for the wrong reasons can compromise us. Good things in excess can weaken us. Good things at the wrong time can distract us. Good things beyond what we need can deceive us. Good things outside of our calling can divert us. Often the "mission drift" of an organization moves in the direction of good things. As you probably know, we will become Whitworth University in July. With that change will come temptations, most of them in the form of good opportunities. But good is bad if it compromises our calling. We need discernment in the next few years. We need to be faithful. Jesus knew when good was bad. So must we. Keep us in your prayers.

Wow, how good is that? It's really comforting and reassuring to me to know that this man, this regular guy, father, husband, servant of Christ, is in charge of educating our kids - my kid, our future leaders, the nation's hope. I know I am often tempted by good things - and often fail to resist that sort of temptation. Bill's comments have given me much food for thought, as have Lorraine's. I've got to run. I'm late for Lent.

Because I Promised Rosemary

2007-03-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

I have been a bad blogger again. It's been a week since I've posted. Rosemary sent me a hilariouos email chastising me for my bad blogger etiquette, so here I am. What, pray tell, has kept me away? Busyness.

Thursday night, in advance of a day off Friday, I made sure to run all the various patches on our servers necessary to thwart the impending computer doom and gloom that is the DST change. Sling reported that he was being peppered with questions by his freaking out coworkers about the early onset of DST. Same here. I was the one back in 1999 saying "nothing is going to happen", but no one believed me. I've been saying the same thing about the DST change. That didn't mean there weren't tasks to complete in advance of March 11 in order to make sure there were no problems; there were. But it also didn't mean that if I hadn't run those patches everything would come crashing down on us. In a couple of instances, the updates for the Outlook calendar on a couple of staff workstations wasn't run, so appointments were off by an hour. Big deal. I ran the fixes on those yesterday. And in once case, I manually set the computer clock ahead. Wow! What an amazing techno goddess I am! Sheesh. But there was one glitch for which I was not prepared, and it is what has kept me away.

We use the Sharepoint services app that is built-in to Windows Server 2003 for our staff website. That website has our meeting room calendar, tutoring room calendar, and a host of documents like our policy and procedures manuals. It also has an IT trouble ticket creator that is used by the staff to report computer problems to me, and in which I track resolutions, etc. When I went to run the DST patches on this machine, I realized there is an updated version of Sharepoint Services available. We were running 2.0 and now there is 3.0. So, I downloaded 3.0 and proceeded to run the update. There were a few preinstallation procedures I had to run first. So, I did all that, installed the update, went to look at our site - and got nothing. I read all the documentation to see what was going on, thought I figured it out, but still nothing. I finally realized that the entire website was gone. Vanished. Wiped out. These sites are "virtual" websites, so they're a little different than our public website, with a folder and actual html files I can edit using any number of tools. At some point during the upgrade, I managed to wipe out the existing virtual website. So, most of the weekend evening hours, the time I usually spend blogging, was spent rebuilding the website. I will say this much - the new version is greatly improved, and includes a lot of features the old one did not, but what a royal pain in the you-know-what. We're still "missing" some documents, and the meeting room calendar has not been rebuilt yet, but most everything else has been recreated in the new, improved format. Still. And I have yet to figure out why we can no longer access it from offsite, despite the fact that the firewall redirects to the proper server. That is something really weird for which I have no solution thus far.

My cat is limping. I don't know if she hurt herself jumping off the bed or counter or something, or if she's just getting old and arthritic all of a sudden. She's 10. Not old, really, and she's always been very agile. But she's been limping for two days, and I'm a tad worried about her. She is a bit tubby, despite the fact that she gets only dry food. In fact, I think she's fatter now than when I was giving her a can of wet food every morning. I stopped with the wet food because about every other day she would puke right after eating it. I decided maybe she was allergic to something in it. She was also scratching a lot more, albeit with her clawless paws, but scratching nevertheless. When I took her off the wet food, her scratching diminshed greatly. And the puking stopped almost completely, with the exception of the hairball-related puking, which is expected. In fact, The Spouse, on his way to the bathroom this morning, stepped in hairball puke. He was not a happy man. At this moment, my cat is sprawled on my lap, sound asleep, forcing me to type with the laptop on the arm of the sofa. Sure, I could move her, but she's been limping. You know how it is.

Youngest Son has been much cheerier lately. He got his griping off his chest, and is now back to enjoying himself, despite the heavy class workload. He, one of the other boys, and the girl he hangs with the most (not in that way - she's getting married in July), went to see Blood Diamond. It was in English with French subtitles. He said it really makes you think, then went on to ask me if it's absolutely necessary to get your fiancee a diamond when you get engaged. It's such an American cultural thing. I guess the girl said she would always wonder if her diamond is a conflict diamond, but she still wanted one. Apparently, there is almost no way to know for sure if a diamond is a conflict diamond or not. In addition to the movie, they had recently watched a CNN International show on conflict diamonds, where it showed a guy easily selling a diamond in NYC to reputable dealers, no questions asked. Not a topic about which I know very much, but one a lot of us will probably know more about if we see the film.

YS and the girls he's going to Italy with over Spring Break, called me in a panic the other day. They had just purchased their train tickets for the trip, and found out they couldn't get a reservation for Friday night, but rather had to leave Thursday night instead. That meant they needed a place to stay for one more night. They had booked a hotel in Rome for the exorbitant price of 784 euros for two nights. I had tried to talk them into a hostel on the ocean, about 30 minutes by train from downtown Rome, that was much cheaper, but they didn't want to change their plans - until they needed a third night's lodging. Suddenly, that hostel looked very appealing. So, me being the ever helpful mom I am, got online and booked the hostel for them. Now, three nights of lodging, breakfast included, will run them just 24 euros a night each - more than half as much as two nights at the hotel was going to cost them. And the hostel is on the Mediterranean! What more could you ask for? They actually paused for a moment when I told them they had a 30 minute train ride to the city, but seriously, you do that twice a day. Big deal. It's worth the savings.

Given that they were in the cost-cutting mode, I found them an equally wonderful hostel in Florence for 288 euros for two nights for the six of them versus the hotel they have booked at 600 euros. Four of them are all for it. Two are leaning toward just staying at the hotel. Clearly, those two are not paying their own way. Mom and Dad must be footing the bill, or the opportunity to save 56+ euros would make it a no-brainer. Not only is it cheaper, the reviews said it has "the best breakfast in Italy", and it has free internet. The hotel has no internet. The hostel is maybe 6 blocks from the hotel, so it's not a location issue either. They're foolish not to make the change. We'll see. One girl is going to try to "sell" the idea to the other two.

Turns out YS could have flown to Rome from Paris, and then back from Milan to Paris, and bought tickets for the Rome to Florence and Florence to Milan sections, for half what his train ticket for that trip cost. The train ticket ran 300 euros - over $400. The airfare plus train would have run about $175. Live and learn. They are going down in a sleeper coach, so that will be fun, but still.

It's sunny out, but cold. And this DST change is not going over too well with me so far. I was liking the fact that it was light at 5:30 AM. It made me more energetic in the morning, my most difficult time of day, and more likely to go to the gym. Now it's dark again. Ugh. Yeah, it's cool that it's light later, but I'm making dinner, or often still working, at that time of day this time of year, so I don't really get to enjoy the later daylight hours. I read an article the other day that said the DST change might aggravate SAD in those who have it precisely because we rely on the rising of the sun to set our clocks for the day, and suddenly we're plunged back into a sunrise time that is the same as back in February. I guess if you live somewhere like So Cal, and you can take advantage, weather-wise, of the longer days, it's a great thing. But here in the Northwest, where it's still cold, often snowing or raining, and not yet conducive to being outside in the evenings, it's not all it's cracked up to be. This morning, it was 28 out at 5 AM. There is frost on everything. It's not really spring yet. Soon, but not yet. Yesterday, while I was out taking a walk at lunchtime, it snowed on me and walking partner. The wind kicked up and it got really cold. Today I'm taking my ear muffs for my walk.

The Spouse and Oldest Son are going to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament in Spokane this weekend. Ticket price? $250 each from a season ticketholder who didn't want to go, so decided to make a couple hundred bucks by scalping his tickets. It's a lot cheaper than the $900 one set of two tickets went for on eBay. If you were a season ticketholder, they only cost $145 each. Crazy. But The Spouse and Oldest Son are basketball fanatics, and seeing Texas and their phenom, Durant, play in real life will be a great experience for them both. Father-son bonding time? Priceless.

Le Pantheon, Notre Dame de Paris, Le Tour Eiffel

2007-03-08T07:07:00.000-08:00

How's that sound for a travel itinerary? Youngest Son visited the Pantheon in Paris yesterday, the Eiffel Tower the day before, and today will visit Notre Dame. The Eiffel Tower was, of course, incredible. He asked me to look up the height of the Space Needle (605 feet) and compare it to the height of the Eiffel Tower (1063 feet). He said you are so high that everything below is so small it's difficult to make things out. He said from the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe is tiny, yet just the day before, as he stood at its base, he was amazed at how big the Arc was. Perspective.

The trip to the Pantheon was an optional trip, and one taken only by about a third of the class. He thought they were going on a shopping excursion, so didn't take his camera. Was he ever upset about that when he realized where they were going. There are some great pictures of the Pantheon on Wikipedia, so I got to see what it looks like. He was intrigued by the Foucault Pendulum and how it keeps time, as well as the murals on the walls. The Pantheon is where Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Emile Zola, Braille, and both Curies are buried, as well as many other notable Frenchmen. Madame Curie is the first, and thus far, only, woman buried there. You can only be buried in the Pantheon by Parliamentary decree. It has an interesting history, and is a really magnificent structure. He is really glad he went on this excursion.

Today, the entire group will visit Notre Dame. YS was surprised I knew as much about the cathedral as I do. He forgets I was an art major, which means taking a lot of art history, which means learning about architecture, which means learning about the great gothic cathedrals, of which Notre Dame is one. Not to mention, I read a lot, and who hasn't read The Hunchback of Notre Dame, or at least seen the movie starring Charles Laughton? Obviously, YS hasn't. He asked me what the big deal was with flying buttresses. So I had to give him a small lesson on architecture, and the cathedrals in France wherein flying buttresses are employed (Chartres, Reims, Notre Dame to name a few). I think he'll get to visit Chartres, and maybe Reims too. Anyway, can't wait for his review of Notre Dame later today when we talk. He has a boatload of photos that he promises he will upload to Webshots this weekend. He said his classmates are dying for him to upload his photos because he has taken some really great photos of them all. He is a really good photographer (not just a mom saying that - his photo prof said he was "gifted"), and has a knack for capturing things from unique perspectives.

He gave his presentation to the class on The Bastille yesterday. He hates public speaking, so was dreading this presentation, but apparently, it went quite well. His next big project is a paper on Seurat, Chuck Close, and pointillism and divisionism during the art portion of the course in April. He is to be the expert for the class on that style and those artists, so he's got some reading to do. I happen to be a big fan of Seurat, so I sent him off with some books on the style and artist. He'll do just fine. The prof for the current section realized the workload he had been giving the kids was a lot heavier than he'd thought it would be (5 hours of reading a night, an hour journaling on what they'd read, and then presentations daily on which they had to journal), so he changed things a bit, making it a lot less daunting and freeing up time for the kids to go out and experience Paris. YS is very relieved, as are the other kids.

The Spouse bid his vacation for next year. The fiscal year runs from June 1 to May 31, so that's the time period for which he has to bid vacation. So, he'll have the week of July 4th off, didn't get Thanksgiving week (he's 5th on the seniority list and 3 people had bid that week by the time it got to him, and 3 is the max that can be off at one time), got the 3 days after Christmas, and then the last two weeks in May 2008. He has another week to bid in the next round, then 8 individual days (the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because they fall during his vacation weeks). But with the last two weeks in May 2008, guess what my plans are? PARIS BABY! I'm going to plan a trip for us to France, maybe Scotland again too. He can bid the first week in June 2008 in next year's vacation bidding, so we'll have three weeks of vacation in a row, so we're definitely going to go to France. I have to start planning now. I can't wait!

Well, off to the salt mines. Adieu!

Another day older and deeper in debt

2007-03-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, not really deeper in debt, but I am another day older. And officially, another year older. Fifty-two. It sounds so old! But it doesn't feel old. Weird. I am supposed to be a grown-up by now, but I so don't feel like one a lot of the time. I feel like the college version of me is trapped inside this aging body. Actually, since this version of college me has 32 years more experience, I hopefully wouldn't make a lot of the same, dumb decisions the original version made. Hopefully. It really is like the song says; "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." But the fact of the matter is, and I know all of my fellow "grown-ups" know what I mean, I still feel like that 20 year-old kid in my head. It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was living in Santa Barbara, going to UCSB, and making plans for the future. Where did 32 years go? One of The Spouse's favorite movies is Meet Joe Black. (Yeah, he's really a softie.) He loves Anthony Hopkins (who doesn't?). Anyway, when Anthony Hopkins is giving his speech at his retirement party he says, "65 years. Don't they go by in a blink?" Truer words were never spoken.

I was reading Lorraine's post about how meeting one person in your life who can set you on a course you may never have followed had you not met them. It got me thinking. I'll bet we all have a person like that in our lives. Maybe several. What it made me think of most, though, was my best friend in high school. She graduated early, got married, had a kid, and we lost touch. When my 30 year reunion rolled around in 2002, and I heard she'd be there, she was the only one I really cared about seeing. When I saw her standing in line for food the second night of the reunion, I knew her instantly. She looked exactly the same - same hair, same figure, same smile. She didn't recognize me right away; it took her about 30 seconds to realize it was me. No glasses, not quite so dorky, and definitely not as skinny as I used to be. But as soon as she knew it was me, and we started talking, it was as though the 30 years we'd been apart didn't exist, and we were back in high school again. She kept saying, "gosh, it's you!" and I knew exactly what she meant. Unfortunately, like Lorraine and her friend Muffin, though we started out keeping in touch, she stopped replying to emails, didn't call, and the contact ended. It's hard to maintain a friendship when you're 1500 miles apart, and your lives are so different. But for a couple of days, I didn't feel 47. I felt 17 again. I could have run off to Avila Beach to bake in the sun with Marsha, just like we'd done dozens of times so many summers ago, talking about boys, classes, teachers, and parents, plans for college, plans for life. Instead, we talked about children, spouses, former spouses, paths taken and not taken, jobs, parents, and the past. When we were 17, we had no past to talk about. At 47, we had lots of past to talk about, At 52, I have even more. And I guess that's what birthdays are about - looking back for a bit, assessing our lives, reviewing lessons learned, remembering precious moments and people, and then looking ahead, to all that awaits. I don't necessarily wish I was 20 again, though I'd love the body I had when I was 20. This one is getting kind of worn out. But I do wish I could talk to that 20 year-old me, tell her some stuff I've learned, tell her to finish college, tell her to make the most of every minute. I'm not sure she'd listen, though. What 20 year-old does? Instead, I'll make sure that 52 year-old me knows that stuff, takes it to heart, and makes the most of every minute of every day, at least as often as possible. That's my birthday present to me.

Happy birthday to me.

Hump day updates

2007-03-07T06:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was staff meeting day - oh, wait, it's now called "Library Team Meeting", not staff meeting. I'm the permanent notetaker for these meetings because I am the fastest typist on staff. I take notes on the laptop, then upload them immediately after the meeting to the staff website so that those who are not in attendance can read them. I try to type what people say verbatim, which is relatively easy until I am the one who has to speak. Yesterday, I had to give a demonstration to the staff on how to setup the LCD projector in the meeting room. We often have groups hold meetings during which they would like to show a Powerpoint presentation or play a DVD. We have an LCD projector we make available to these groups, and I'm the one who always has to set it up for them. The Boss wants more staff members to know how to do that, hence the demonstration. Naturally, I couldn't take notes while doing the demo. Then I was asked a bunch of questions. I can't type and talk at the same time (imagine that), so my answers don't get typed. I usually type the question, then go back later and type in the answer.

Today I have a technology committee meeting, the focus of which is going to be RFID. The 3M rep is in town to give us a presentation on RFID. Some of us have had this presentation already, and are all for moving to RFID ASAP (like those acronyms?) But there are always those who have problems with technology in general, and RFID in particular. They think people will be able to tell what patrons check out by employing an RFID reader and reading the signal emitted from the materials the patron has with them as they leave the library. Get real. The RFID tag will only have a barcode and a status (checked out/not checked out) programmed into it. They'd need our database to find out what title has that barcode. No patron info will be attached to the tag. For as close as someone would have to be with the reader to read the tag, it would be easier to tell what someone was checking out by just LOOKING at the stuff the patron was carrying! Anyway, today's meeting should help dispel some of these concerns.

The technology committee's role is to recommend or not recommend the implementation of RFID technology to the full board of trustees. If we recommend it, the board will vote on it, and we will budget for the implementation - or not - depending upon their vote. RFID tags would allow us to check in and out multiple items at one time, and it makes keeping the shelves in order amazingly easy. I really hope we go for it.

Tomorrow is my birthday. My best friend and I will go out for lunch at the establishment of my choice. I will get a lot of nifty cards from coworkers, and a few gifts. My family will celebrate it this weekend. YS will call from Paris. It will be a great day. The snow is melting, the sun is sort of shining. Spring is just around the corner. Life is good.

Paris Rocks!

2007-03-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post. Work looms. YS is in Paris and during our phone call said, "I've had more fun in two days than in two weeks in Strasbourg!" He's been to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, the top of the Eiffel Tower, to the Louvre at night (not inside), and to the Sacre Coeur, all within the first 48 hours! He and one of his roommates, Stefan, set out to find the Louvre the first night they were in Paris. After about a 45 minute walk, they stumbled upon it. The next day, they had their orientation to Paris and the Metro. They were split into pairs and sent off via metro to find a specific monument. YS and his friend, Corina, had to find the Arc de Triomphe. YS said the metro is a lot like the Tube in London, so it was a piece of cake for him. He has a great sense of direction, too. They got out of the metro station, looked around, and there was the Arc. There are 12 lanes of traffic that go in a circle around the Arc, and YS and Corina decided they should run across them all to get to the Arc rather than use the underpass. They ran across laughing and screaming, arriving safely at the Arc, only to see two gendarmes standing there watching them, heads shaking as if to say "idiot tourists!" They loved it. But it was early Sunday morning with very little traffic. Later that day, when the whole group went to the top of the Arc, they saw people crossing with tons of traffic. Now those were idiot tourists! After the trek to the Arc, they went to Sainte Chapelle. On Saturday they went to the Pompidou Centre, and just walked around. Today was the Eiffel Tower. So, yeah, Paris rocks!

The new DVR - pros and cons

2007-03-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

Con - it is not a TiVo. DirecTV severed their relationship with TiVo so they could hawk their own wares. It's so disappointing. TiVo rocks, plain and simple.

Pro - The new DVR holds up to 100 hours of programming and keeps up to 90 minutes of "live TV" in backup.

Con - The TiVo constantly records 30 minutes of live TV on both tuners. When you have DirecTV with a DVR, you have two tuner inputs, so you can record two channels at once. With the TiVo, if you are watching one channel, whatever channel the other tuner was last tuned to is also being recorded. What's cool about that is that you could literally watch two shows at once without having to be recording for posterity either one of them. You just press the "Live TV" button to switch back and forth between the two. When you press the "Info" button, you see the detailed info about the show you are watching, as well as what's on the other tuner. You can even pause the one tuner (for up to 30 minutes), watch in real time on the other tuner, and switch back to where you paused the other tuner. The new DVR only records "live TV" on the tuner you are watching, so unless you've selected to record something other than what you're watching, you can't switch between two tuners. That sucks.

Pro - When you switch to the guide, or to pretty much any menu option, it puts the show you are watching into a picture-in-picture sort of window, so you can still watch the show and navigate menus, the guide, whatever.

Con - you have to move a slider to TV and then hit the power button to turn the TV off or on, then switch back to DTV to change the channels on the DVR. With the TiVo, there is a separate TV power button that just turns the TV off and on. This won't bother me, but The Spouse will hate it. He already hates that he has to learn a new remote.

Pro - we can now record 4 shows simultaneously.
Pro - the new DVR has caller ID, so I can see on the TV screen who's calling, and don't have to find the phone and try to read its miniscule readout.

Summary - Having had a TiVo, I miss all the features I've become accustomed to. Someone who has never had a TiVo probably won't care. And some things are better than TiVo, but I'd have preferred a TiVo over this DVR if I'd had a choice. At least I still have the TiVo in the bedroom, so I can pretty much have my cake and eat it too.

The poor installer - he had to go under our house, which is a really nice crawl space with a light and all, but even with our sump pump running almost non-stop, there was still about 4" of water on the ground in part of the crawl space - the part he had to go into to install the multi-switch. He was wet and dirty, and I felt really bad. And once he got all the cables installed, and we turned stuff on, one cable in our bedroom was not providing a signal, so he had to go back down there and replace one of his connections. Ugh. It took about 2 1/2 hours. I spent the next hour reading the manual and programming the DVR. Then I went out and shoveled snow for half an hour, in the dark. Fun. Not.

March is coming in like a lion

2007-02-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

It's snowing like mad. And it's supposed to continue. We got about 6" overnight. We've probably gotten another 4" today. Who knows how much it's going to snow overnight. I just hope we don't have any more leaky roof incidents.

On another note, YS is doing much better. Thanks to you all for your prayers. Today they went to the Conseil de l'Europe, or European Council - different than the EU Parliament they went to Monday. Then they went to the Heineken brewery - and got to taste beer. So, how cool is that for a 20 year-old college kid? Yeah, he had fun.

Tomorrow is a long day. They're going to Struthof Natzwiller - the only concentration camp in France (because it was part of Germany during WWII) -which should be pretty moving. Then, they trek 90 minutes in the opposite direction to the Ligne Maginot, (Maginot Line) in Schoenenbourg. That will be pretty interesting, too. All the old battlements are still there, and he already knows a lot of the history of The Line, so he's interested in seeing it.

Friday they go to a pottery where they make the forms, or pots, for making Kougelhopf, which they made yesterday. From there, they will go to a farm where they raise the ducks for foie gras. Now, PETA, don't come knocking on my door. I didn't plan this trip, and it's France for crying out loud. They eat that there, and they raise the ducks there. Maybe seeing how they fatten these duck's livers will make activists out of these kids. Of coure, no visit to a foie gras farm would be complete without sampling the goods, something YS isn't too keen on now that he knows that pate de foie gras is made from duck or goose livers. They do get to have a big feast though, then on to Paris on Saturday. Things are looking up. I mean, really, it IS France, after all.

I'd better go shovel the driveway before The Spouse gets home. I'll tell you about my DirecTV upgrade tomorrow. Suffice it to say, I now have two DVRs, so I can record 4 programs at once. How great is that? Mostly, it's so The Spouse's Duke basketball recordings don't clog up my TiVo so I can't record MY stuff. The install was very interesting. Tomorrow. The snow is calling.

France update

2007-02-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

I talked to YS this morning. He sounded really down. No wonder I was in a bad mood yesterday. I honestly think I can sense when things are not going well for him. No, it's not the girl thing. That's not even an issue any more. He did really poorly on the presentation he had to give - the lowest grade in the class - and he's really upset about that. He had to give a 10-minute presentation in French to his class. It had to be on some aspect of Alsatian culture. He chose to do it on beer. He went to the internet station at the hostel to print out some of the stuff he needed for his presentation, and the printer was broken, so he ended up not even having everything he needed. Apparently, according to his professor, he used English too much, (he said he said "right", "yes", and "okay" when he'd get stuck), his presentation wasn't well organized, and he didn't conclude it very well. He gets really nervous when he speaks before a group (he doesn't take after me at all in that area), and having to speak in French just amplified the problem. He was supposed to memorize this speech, too, in French, with just one semester of French under his belt. He thinks teh professor is expecting too much of a beginning French student. Though he can understand a lot of French, he is still a beginner, and there is a lot of vocabulary he simply doesn't have yet. He has been struggling a lot, and his professor, according to YS, doesn't do much translating for the beginning kids. They went to the EU headquarters yesterday, which he said was amazing, but the guy giving the tour gave it all in French, with such complex language that even the advanced students had problems. And then they were tested on things they learned. It didn't go well.

Additionally, he is actually missing home and the mundane aspects of college life in his dorm. In a week he will be in Paris with a professor who will be speaking English, seeing things he's only seen in photos - the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre. I think things should improve a lot then. On the other hand, they do have a hefty workload with that professor, so who knows. Curiously, he said there is "nothing to do" in Strasbourg. He and a few fellow students went out last Friday in search of a disco or some place fun to hang out, and found nothing. They did end up at a Greek restaurant, and had some great food, but no dancing, no night life, which surprised them. I assured him that would be quite different once they hit Paris, but he heard the same thing about Strasbourg when they were in Saverne, so he isn't holding out any hope that Paris will be better. Of course, we all know it will be amazing. Not only that, but my understanding is that a lot of people speak English in Paris, so he won't be quite so limited in communicating with people.

I think the bottom line is, he's tired, he's frustrated with his grade thus far (this is the language portion of the course, so it's ALL about speaking and understanding French), and he misses home and his computer. His professor did say that every student would get depressed at some point; that the struggle to communicate, and the homesickness would affect them all eventually. Maybe he's hit that point. He's really frustrated with not being able to get online when he wants and post photos, email, etc. He did say he and the other two guys walked to Germany on Saturday. Yes, walked to Germany. It was a 45-minute walk to the Rhine, so off they went. They ended up in a hailstorm and got soaked to the skin, but they walked to Germany. I have no idea what they did once they got there - if they just turned around and walked back or what - but that was his Saturday outing. Tomorrow is the Heineken brewery, which he said he is not even looking forward to now because he doesn't think he'll understand half of what the tour guide says, and also the Parliament. I think they leave for Paris on Saturday. He is looking forward to getting a new professor, seeing some sights in Paris, and hopefully having more interesting days. The weather hasn't helped - it's cold and rainy right now. So, send some prayers, good thoughts, whatever his way.

Good morning, Sunshine!

2007-02-27T06:56:00.000-08:00

Maybe it was just hormones. Perhaps the lack of sun. Whatever it was, the grumpy mood has lifted. No, still no word from YS, but I'll survive. I have to stop worrying about him. I just have to trust that God has him in His hands. My friend, JoAnn, and I remind each other of this. God is in control. If we want what's best for our children, how much more does He want what's best for them? I think the struggle is that we know that sometimes God allows things to happen to our children, because it is for their good, that we would probably try to protect them from. It's scary to give up control to Him - something with which I struggle daily. I never considered myself a control freak. The Spouse is. The Daughter is. But moi? No way! I'm a "go with the flow" sort of gal. (Is that uproarious laughter I hear in the background?) I guess it really depends upon the situation. When it comes to my kids, apparently, not so much. I like knowing where they are, what they are doing, how they are feeling, and if anyone is being mean to them. And if someone is being mean to them, well, you don't want to know what I want to do. That trucker the other night? That's nothing compared to what you'll get from me if you are mean to my kid. I will kick your ever-loving butt from here to kingdom come. Mother bears have nothing on me. Fortunately, I have not had to show this side of myself very often. It's not a pretty sight. Anyway.

So, the sun is out. I hope it stays out today. I will take my ear muffs so I can go for a walk at lunch today. It's cold, and my ears just ache when I walk in the cold, hence the ear muffs. I'm also feeling better health-wise. The cold I caught - the first in two years - only lasted three or four days, thanks to Zicam. The Spouse didn't use the Zicam and he is still struggling with the cold. I got the cold about 5 days after he did, and I'm almost completely over it. I used Zicam for the first two days. And I have gotten two really good nights of sleep, thanks to Tylenol Nighttime Cold Medicine. I don't know what's in that stuff, but I slept like a baby last night and the night before. I actually feel rested this morning. It's amazing! Heck, I might even hit the gym this morning. In fact, if I am going to do that, I need to get off the computer, so, "ciao!" for now!

I'm grumpy, and I don't know why

2007-02-26T14:30:00.000-08:00

I'm rarely like this, but for some reason, I'm in a bad mood today. Maybe it's because YS had said he would be in touch this weekend, and he wasn't. On top of that, when I call his cell, it goes straight to voice mail. There are a couple of things I need to talk to him about - namely he has to decide which study abroad programs he wants to apply to for next Jan Term - and the deadline is March 11. Since he's abroad with limited computer access, I am going to have to do some of his legwork, hence the need to discuss things with him pronto. Also, he had a little relationship thingee go kind of awry. I don't want to divulge too much as you never know who is reading this, but he suffered yet another setback in the affairs of the heart department. A girl acted like she liked him, made all the advances, then suddenly, for no apparent reason, wouldn't even talk to him. He said he felt like he was in high school again. He finally pulled her aside to find out what was going on. She said she didn't think it was a good idea to get involved while on the trip (so why did she start it?), has a tendency to move too quickly and things don't turn out well when she does that, blah, blah, blah. So, then why not say that, instead of just ignoring him? I get so tired of seeing this nice, sweet, tender-hearted boy get run over by flakey girls who mess with his heart, then stomp on it like it's made of rubber, and will just bounce right back. He's so afraid of even remotely letting girls get close to him, that I worry about him. His self esteem when it comes to girls is just dismal. He was so happy when he was telling me about this girl, and how much fun they were having, and that she was the instigator, so he figured it was safe, and he still gets his heart broken. And there's not a damned thing I can do about it. I hope it doesn't ruin his trip. He said it wouldn't - and he told me that as he was headed out with a bunch of kids for the night, so he was having fun - but still....

Aside from YS's situation, work is making me grumpy too. I have too much to do, no help, and constant interruptions - as usual. But today it's making me grumpy for some reason. So, I'm going to go. No sense in blogging. I'm not very good company today. Sorry. Oh, I was happy with most of the Oscar wins. Didn't watch the show, but wish I had. Actually went to a movie in a theater - a rare event - and it wasn't really worth the $9 ticket price. Breach. It was okay, just not a thriller or suspense movie like the previews lead you to believe. Not theater worthy. There wasn't anything else to see. Well, I kind of wish we'd gone to see Wild Hogs instead. It looks funny, and I could have used the laughs.

You can thank Lorraine for this one

2007-02-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

Lorraine posited a question, to which I had to find the answer. The question was, "how many sons of presidents have been to war?" This question comes on the heels of the announcement that Prince Harry is going to Iraq. So, I googled a bit, wiki'd a bit, and here's what I've learned thus far. Pretty interesting stuff, and I may have to do further research on the older presidents to find out about their kids. What was interesting is that a lot of the presidents had no children, or only girls, and a lot of the kids died young "in the olden days", so the lack of a president's child being listed below doesn't mean his kid didn't serve in a war - it might mean they had no sons, or that their sons died young, or that there were no wars during the years their children would have typically served. So, here goes:

President John Tyler's son, David Gardiner Tyler, fought in Civil War for the Confederate Army.
President Zachary Taylor's son, Richard Taylor was a Confederate general in the Civil War
President Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, served in the Civil War.
President Ulysses S. Grant's son, Frederick Dent Grant, fought in civil war alongside his father. He went to West Point, graduated in 1871, was in the military until 1881. He fought in the Bannock War in 1878, and in the fight against Victorio in New Mexico. In 1898, he went back into the army, and served as colonel in the Spanish-American War. He fought in the Philippine-American war for three years, and was in the army until his death in 1912.
President Rutherford B. Hayes' son, Webb Hayes, served during the Spanish-American war, was wounded during the crossing of the San Juan River and the assault on San Juan Hill, and again in the invasion of Puerto Rico. He was awarded Medal of Honor for actions in the Philippines. He also served in WW1.
President Theodore Roosevelt's son, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr, served in WWI as a major. He led his battalion in combat. All the Roosevelt sons served in the military. Teddy Jr. served in WWII, led troops during D-Day landings, and died of heart attack one month after Utah Beach landing.
President Theodore Roosevelt's son, Kermit Roosevelt, served in WWI and WWII with the British Army and the US Army.
President Theodore Roosevelt's son, Archibald Roosevelt, served in WWI and was wounded and discharged with full disability. He tried to join the Army again for WWII, but was turned down due to his age (48) and disability. He pleaded with FDR to intervene, which he did. He was given a commission as a Lt. Colonel, and commanded the 162nd Infantry. He was wounded again, and earned the Silver Star during combat in the Pacific Theater. He is the only American ever to be classified as 100% disabled twice, and the only serviceman retired on full disability from both world wars.
President Theodore Roosevelt's son, Quentin Roosevelt, fought with the Army Air Service. He was shot down behind German lines in France. The Germans buried him with full battlefield honors.
President William H. Taft's son, Robert A. Taft, wanted to serve, but was rejected by army for poor eyesight.
President William H. Taft's son, Charles Phelps Taft II, dropped out of Yale in order to serve in the US Army during WWI.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's son, James Roosevelt, was 2nd in command of the 2nd Raider Battalion of the Marine Raiders during WWII. He retired as Brigadier General, and earned the Navy Cross and Silver Star.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's son, Elliott Roosevelt, was an Army photo reconnaissance pilot during WWII, and played a key role in D-Day landings.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's son, John Aspinwall Roosevelt, served in the Navy from 1941-1946 during WWII. He received the Bronze Star.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower's son, John Eisenhower, served in the Army during WWII and the Korean War. He attained rank of Brigadier General.
President Jimmy Carter's son, Jack Carter, enlisted in the Navy at his father's suggestion. He served in Vietnam on a salvage ship.

And if you're curious as to the military service of our presidents, including wartime service, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Presidents_by_military_service

So, that's your history lesson for today.

Missing the kid

2007-02-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

Today marks the 4th or 5th day since I last talked to YS. I'm not used to that. When he's at school, we talk at least briefly almost every day. Since he's been in France, we've managed to connect almost every day, at least every other day. But this week, nothing. I know he's busy, but not even a text message or short "hi, I'm alive" phone call before he goes to bed or when he gets up? I miss him. When I see that one of his fellow students has managed to blog two or three times this week, it makes me even sadder. Why hasn't he found the time for a quick email? I know, I know, I'm being silly. But I miss him, and I miss hearing about his adventures, and I'm afraid by the time he does call or write, he won't remember the details of his adventures to be able to relate them. Sigh. I know. Get over it. He's an adult. He's having fun with his friends. But I still miss him, and it's not like him to go so long without some sort of contact. It doesn't help that I'm sick and grumpy.

Edit: 12:00 PM - talked to YS at last. His cell phone is out of minutes, so he hasn't been able to call, and didn't realize he could receive calls still. He is having fun, and is very busy. I did conference him in with his dad so he could wish him a happy birthday. So, I'm feeling a bit better. He was on his way out with a group of friends, and in the background I could hear one of the girls helping him figure out what to wear. A good sign.

Getting it off my chest

2007-02-23T06:24:00.000-08:00

You know how, when you're driving and someone cuts you off, or pulls out in front of you at the last minute, forcing you to slam on your brakes, and then drives 10 miles per hour below the speed limit, you wish you could tell them exactly what a dumb ass they are, but that opportunity rarely presents itself? Well, Wednesday night, I got that opportunity, and took full advantage of it.

As you head north out of our town, the road narrows from two lanes to one. This is a relatively new configuration. They keep trying to improve the flow of traffic through town while we await the building of a bypass that will take the majority of traffic out of downtown - a bypass that will likely not be completed for 4 or 5 years at the earliest. One of the things they did was to widen one of the main north/south thoroughfares from two lanes to four - two in each direction. The problem is, at the north end, traffic goes under a railroad trestle that is only two lanes wide. It can't be widened - well, not without much ado - because there is a river on the east side of the road and homes and businesses on the west. So, traffic must merge from two lanes into one. Most people handle this properly, letting people merge from the right into the left lane of traffic. But there are always those idiots who insist on flying up the right side, passing the line of cars on the left, and then forcing their way into the line of traffic at the last possible minute. Those are the guys you really want to tell off.

Wednesday night, I was the second car in the left lane of traffic. As I was driving along, I could hear the sounds of a semi's gears shifting, his engine whining as his speed increased. He was pulling alongside me on the right. The lane was ending soon, and there is plenty of warning that it is going to do so, so I figured the truck would slow down and pull in behind me. After all, I WAS in front of him. Imagine my surprise when he continued to increase his speed, and actually pulled ahead of me. The car in front of me was not paying any attention He was driving kind of slowly (probably the speed limit, but no one drives the speed limit there as it goes from 35 to 45 at the trestle), but not so slowly that the truck could pass him too, though I think he wanted to. I honked at the truck as he nosed ahead of me. I flashed my lights at the guy in front of me. The lane was ending. The truck driver put his signal on, as if that would magically part the traffic to allow him to butt in. I had no recourse but to stomp on the brakes to let this guy in. I had to come to almost a complete stop, and just prayed the car behind me was paying attention. I was livid. I was on my way to the grocery store, which would have meant turning left at the upcoming junction with the highway going north and the one going east toward home, but the truck continued on the highway going east, and I decided to follow him. I had a pretty good idea where he was headed.

In the meantime, I called The Spouse to vent. I told him I was following the guy. Sure enough, the truck turned into Lignetics, a company that turns sawdust into pellets for pellet stoves, and into those duralog thingees. I turned in too. This driver knew exactly where he was going, added proof that he knew that lane ended, and knew exactly what he was doing. I waited for him to pull onto the scale and get out of the cab. I stormed over, Spouse listening on the cell phone "just in case". I said to the guy "What were you thinking? You CANNOT pass on the right. That is against the law, and dangerous! I was ahead of you and you PASSED me and made me slam on my brakes to let you in!" The driver, a 30-ish guy, stocky, shaved head, said "I didn't pass you." Naturally, I responded that he definitely HAD passed me. He then said "the law says.....I had my turn signal on...." and made some other smart remarks. I informed him that the law says you cannot pass on the right, and turning on one's turn signal does NOT give one the right of way. He had such an attitude that I was infuriated. I told him I was going to file a complaint. And I did.

Gotta love cell phones and 411 connect. I dialed 411, and asked for the number for Richardson Trucking in Lewiston, ID - about 3 1/2 hours south of here. They gave me the number and connected me. It was worth the $1.85 it will cost me. I got the dispatcher and told him what had happened. He was familiar with the place in town I was talking about. I gave him the license number and told him where the guy went. He immediately knew who the driver was. He said "was he a mouthy kid?" That was a pretty accurate description. He told me they 'd had problems with him before, and that he would make sure his supervisor knew about the incident. Now, this could all have been BS, but it made me feel good. I don't want the guy fired - and I told the dispatcher that, but I do want him to think twice the next time he uses his size and brute force to bully other drivers on the road. Guys like that give truckers a bad name, especially guys with the attitude he had. It was so nice to actually be able to confront an idiot driver and feel like you got to tell them just how stupid and dangerous their behavior was.

Happy Birthday, Spouse

2007-02-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

Today is The Spouse's 57th birthday. I think I caught what Lorraine had via her blog. Ugh. I want to make The Spouse a really nice dinner, but I'm not sure I'm up to it. There is a restaurant in town, Panhandler Pies, that gives you a free meal, complete with a piece of homemade pie of your choice, on your birthday. I'm going to try to talk The Spouse into going there on his lunch break (at 3 or 4) today. If he agrees, Daughter and the Grandkids will meet us there and surprise him. It will also mean I won't have to make dinner. I can make him his special dinner this weekend. Regardless, Happy Birthday, Honey! I ♥ you very much!

Sad goodbyes

2007-02-22T06:52:00.000-08:00

Several of my blog friends have noted the departure of a few of our blog buddies from blogopia. It makes me sad when people whose work I enjoy reading stop writing. I know there are lots of reasons for terminating a blog. Real life gets in the way. Situations in one's life that prompted one to blog no longer exist, or no longer serve as motivation to blog. Maybe it's just disillusionment with blogopia, the realization that "knowing" someone via their blog isn't necessarily really knowing them at all, a desire to step back from the "putting it all out there" mentality that technology has promulgated, or any other array of reasons. Nevertheless, it saddens me when communication is cut off abruptly, and seemingly permanently. Maybe I'm weird, but I like hearing what my blog friends have to say, or feel is worthy of posting on any particular day. And when I stumble upon a new blog that piques my curiosity, I like to go back and read the archives, to get to know the blogger a little better, to understand why today's post says what it says based upon what past posts have said. That's why I keep archives available on my blog, and why it makes me crazy when other bloggers don't. When I "met" charlie, of Highland Dreams fame, I read back as far as I could to get a sense of who he was. Thanks to charlie, I met S1, Amy, Lorraine, Dan, Iwanski, Diane, Therese, Alan, Allan, Grish, and a host of others. Thanks to Lorraine, I met JP, SCG, JLow, Eva, and the rest of you, and thanks to me, you have all met Rosemary. What a nice circle. But now charlie has stopped blogging - probably never to return, as have Eva, Edy, LA, and countless others. My blog roll needs to be modified, and I don't want to do it. I keep holding out hope these people will come back, will realize they are missed, they were appreciated, they brought something special to our day, and we want them back. But that's selfish of me. They have their reasons, and I must respect them. But I still miss them, and I want them to know that. So if you're still reading this blog, charlie, Evangeline, Legal Alien, Amy, and Edy - I miss your posts. I miss hearing your thoughts, your point of view, however different from mine it might be, your insightful comments, your writing. I know you have reasons for leaving, and I respect them, but that doesn't make me miss you any less. Bon voyage mes amis.

This is how you know you raised them right

2007-02-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

I had a very brief phone conversation with YS this morning. He is now in Strasbourg. Saturday night, they had a big party with all the host families. They had the traditional tarte flambee, or flammekueche in Alsatian.

It starts with bread dough rolled out fine as a crepe. But instead of tomatoes, anchovies and mozzarella, this dough is spread with creme fraiche, a thick soured cream mixed with a delicate fresh white cheese called fromage blanc. It is seasoned with salt and pepper, and then thinly sliced white onions and bacon cut like matchsticks go on top. The true tarte flambee is cooked in an old-fashioned wood-burning oven, the kind used in the countryside for baking bread. The heat in a wood-burning oven is so intense that in less than a minute the tarte emerges still supple, yet blistered at the edges, with the topping of cream and cheese the color of old ivory. Tarte flambee originated with peasants of the Bas Rhin, and is a specialty in the area from Strasbourg northwest to Saverne. Years ago farmers used to bake their bread just once a week. While the oven was still too hot to bake the bread without burning it, they would take a bit of dough, roll it out and spread it with thickened cream. In just a few minutes they could make a simple and delicious midday meal. Sounds like something I could live on!

Anyway, they had this party, during which they sang songs, played various games, and had a great time. At the end of the party, YS went to Steve, his professor's contact person in Saverne, who arranges all the home stays. He thanked him for putting this all together, and told him how much he'd enjoyed his host family. While he was telling me this, I could hear his friend in the background saying "and he was crying!" YS admitted that, when he was talking to Steve, he did get misty-eyed. Then he looked at his host mom, who also had teared up, and he did get pretty tearful. He teased back to his friend, Chelsea, "at least I didn't bawl like you did". I guess all the kids got emotional when they said goodbye to their surrogate families, knowing they may never see them again, and appreciating all that they had done for them these past two weeks. It made me get choked up too. YS is a really good kid, with a very tender heart. I know he will miss his host family, even though the kids are off to a great hostel in Strasbourg, where they can all hang out, and joke around, without the sometimes awkward feeling that accompanies living as a stranger in someone else's home. It made me smile to hear that he had been moved to tears when he bid them adieu, and they were sad to see him go. He must have been a good guest, which means he has learned something from us, after all.

Sneak peek at Spring

2007-02-19T13:22:00.000-08:00

Saturday was fun, but Mother Nature played a cruel trick on us. First, we went to Spokane, where I had booked a couple of rooms at the Marriot Residence Inn. Nice place! The rooms were nice, with nearly full kitchens (only thing missing was an oven). Daughter and her family were in one room, we were in the other. The plan was that The Spouse, Oldest Son, Daughter-in-law, Oldest Granddaughter, and I would go to the Gonzaga vs. Memphis game, which started at 3, then to dinner afterward (this was our Christmas/birthday present from OS and his wife), while Daughter, Son-in-law, and grandkids would go hang out at the mall for a bit, then come back to the hotel to play in the pool. The next day we were all going to Oldest Granddaughter's championship AAU basketball game. The cruel trick? It was 60 degrees in Spokane on Saturday! We figured that Punxutawny Phil was right for once. Winter was over.

The Gonzaga game was amazing! They really were not expected to win, especially since Josh Heytvelt wasn't playing (see news article), but the Zags took the game into overtime, and very nearly beat the Tigers. It was one of the best Gonzaga games I've ever seen. We had dinner reservations at a really great restaurant afterward, and had a really wonderful dinner at C.I. Shenanigans. I had Chilean Sea Bass, which was served with the tastiest mashed potatoes in the world and perfectly cooked fresh green beans. Before dinner, Daughter-in-law and I shared a bowl of crab bisque that was to die for. The Spouse and OS had the most amazing braised pork shank, which they called Osso Bucco (osso bucco is usually veal, but it just translates as "hollow bone", so could be anything), served with the same great potatoes and green beans, and DIL had a rib-eye steak. We had a terrific time. When we left the restaurant, it was still 58 degrees. Unbelievable, really. February 17th and it's shirt sleeve weather. When we got back to the hotel, the grandkids were all playing in the pool. We sat and watched for a bit, but The Spouse was battling a horrible cold, sore throat, and watery eyes, so we headed for bed kind of early.

Sunday we all got up and enjoyed the wonderful, free buffet breakfast at the hotel. The Spouse was feeling better. We headed to our cars for a short trip to the mall. That's when we realized we'd been had. It was nearly 15 degrees cooler - and windy. The weather forecaster had warned of impending winter storms, which were due to continue all week. So far, it was sunny, just cold and windy. We still held out hope.

We wandered over to the mall (just down the street), where the grandkids got a few new clothes (they have this habit of outgrowing things), then headed to the game. Oldest Granddaughter's team was undefeated this season. The team they played for the title had lost once - to them. We thought it might be close, but it was a blowout. These girls are heads and shoulders above all the other 7th grade girls. It's pretty amazing.

After trophies were handed out, the obligatory photos taken, and congratulations offered, it was time to head for home. Now it was really cold and windy. And the sky was threatening. We made a quick stop at Best Buy, where I bought the new laptop, then high-tailed it home. The sky to the north was growing gloomier by the second. Daughter called when we were halfway home to tell us it was pouring at home, and really windy. So long Spring. Today, it's snowing. I am so disappointed. On Friday, I walked 2 miles during half an hour of my lunch break with our new security person, and was looking forward to doing that regularly. Bummer. I guess it's back to Uggs and turtlenecks, for this week anyway.

France photos

2007-02-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

I put a new slideshow on the left of photos YS has uploaded from his stay in Saverne. If you click the link below the slideshow, it will take you to my Webshots album, where you can view the photos in full size.

No Gay Paree for me

2007-02-19T12:44:00.000-08:00

I had the good sense to email the professor who is conducting the Parisienne portion of YS's study program. I wanted to know how much time they'd be spending in class during the proposed week of our visit. In his current portion of the trip, their class time is limited to the mornings from nine to noon. Their afternoons are free, primarily to give them time to absorb the French culture and interact with their host families. They take a few excursions to castles, churches, and whatnot, but mostly they are free to explore. I suspected things might be different in Paris, and I was right. Said professor responded that they would be very busy, and that given the cost, we should wait and take a family trip at some later date. So, no Paris. To console myself, I bought a new laptop.

My old, heavy, archaic laptop died. Just up and dropped dead. No power, nothing. It's a PIII-600 old Dell Latitude that I bought used off of eBay for $450 a few years ago. I got my money's worth. I didn't even want to try to fix it. I started doing some research, thought about buying a Dell off their website, then decided, on the spur of the moment yesterday (the BEST way to decide these things), to stop in at Best Buy and see what they had. This laptop will mostly be for The Spouse to look up sports stuff, the grandkids to play games, and me to burn DVDs and store photos (so I don't keep storing them on the work laptop). It just needs to work and not be anything spectacular. And it needed to be cheap. Best Buy had a Gateway with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1 GB RAM (I will upgrade that most likely), a 100GB hard drive, a 17" widescreen, a dual layer DVD burner, and Windows Vista Home Premium - pretty much everything I was looking for - for just $699. So, I am now sitting with the new machine on my lap, doing my blog. It's a pretty sweet machine. I was looking at a Sony Vaio, which they were out of, before I saw this one. They were the same price, same specs, but the Sony only had a 15.4" screen, and a bunch of software I didn't need. I have Office 2007. I have anti-virus. I have everything I need. I didn't want to pay for a bunch of bundled stuff, but I did want the 17" screen.

So, no Paris, but a new toy. I can live with that.

Is that Paris calling?

2007-02-15T15:39:00.000-08:00

So, get this. The Spouse had to bid his vacation last February for the fiscal year June 06-May 07. YS had not been accepted into the France Study Program at that time. We decided on some weeks throughout the year - Thanksgiving Week, Week after Christmas, July 4th Week, and one other week I can't remember. Because every week he bid had a holiday in it, he got 4 extra days to bid, in addition to his 2 personal days and 2 floating holidays. He sprinkled those extra days throughout the year, with most of them falling between January and June 1, all on Fridays. Then YS gets accepted to the FSP two weeks later - and announces he will have Spring Break free. His Spring Break coincides with most of the public schools' spring break, and that week is no longer available. We toyed with the idea of me going to France and hanging out with YS, letting him show me around Paris and whatnot, but then he hooked up with some of his classmates for the trip to Italy - a much more intriguing week than hanging with his mother.

Monday, The Spouse's workgroup is told that there is now a week available in March for vacation, if someone wants it. The Spouse has 5 days he hasn't taken yet - Fridays he was scheduled to have off in February, March, April, and May. "So," I say to him, "it is possible to go to Paris for that week?" Maybe. He doesn't know when the week is yet. Naturally, I jumped online immediately and started checking airfares. The next day, he finds out the week is March 17-25. I find airfares for a little over $800 each. I'm ready to book the tickets! The Spouse is not so sure. He tells me that this is so sudden (he doesn't do spontaneous very well), Paris isn't even on his list of places he wants to visit (???????), he'd rather go back to Scotland (yeah, I want to do that again someday), blah, blah, blah. I'm like a racehorse in the gate, chomping at the bit, ready to run, and he's the jockey pulling on my reins, and I do not like it one bit. I've been with this man long enough to know that pushing him is not the way to get what I want, so I let it go - as far as he knows. In the meantime, I've booked the hotel (I can cancel it), which is the same hotel YS will be staying at, and I'm one click away from booking the flights. I asked YS what he thought, and his only concern is how much time he will have to be in class each day while in Paris. With this professor, they are only in class from 9 to noon, but he has no idea what it will be like with the next professor. So, he asked me to email the professor and see what he says. We'll go from there.

So, gang, I MAY be going to Paris in just over a month! Is that amazing or what? And if I don't get to go, it's okay. I will go some day, some day.

Valentine's Day Recap

2007-02-15T08:18:00.000-08:00

The Spouse had his boss riding with him, so no romantic lunch together. In fact, since she was with him for the day, he didn't even take his lunchbox with him, so didn't find the note and chocolate bar I had tucked into it until he was on his way home. So, to make up for it, I cooked him up a tasty rib-eye steak, mashed potatoes, and veggies, lit a bunch of candles, got him a nice card, and had it all waiting for him when he got home at 7:30. I also got a banana cream pie for dessert - a pie he loves, and I can't eat (banana allergy), so it was perfect! We watched Duke beat Boston College, which made his night, and then I played "our song" for him, via YouTube. Thank you YouTube!

"Looking for love..."

What a catch

2007-02-13T17:53:00.000-08:00

I talked to YS this morning - late afternoon for him. The group hiked to Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg this afternoon. It was QUITE a hike, according to YS, but the view was well worth the exertion. The first link is to the Wikipedia article on the Chateau, but this link is to the Chateau's official site (in French), with a photo album that is worth taking a look at.

But this post is about why YS is a great catch, and some day, some girl will recognize that. After class, he got the two other boys and suggested they run to the supermarket to buy flowers for the girls for Valentine's Day. The other boys thought it was a great idea. They wanted red roses, but at 3 euros a pop, 18 roses would set them back a bit more than they could afford. They found some nice pink roses, and a bouquet for one of the girls, whose birthday is on Valentine's Day, costing them about 9 euros each. YS then took all the flowers to his host home. His host mom looked at him quizzically when he walked in with 18 roses and a bouquet. He finally got the message across that they were for St. Valentine's Day (it's pronounced Valen-TEEN there). She put them in a room they don't heat to keep them fresh. He and the boys are going to get to class early and put the flowers on the desks of the girls and the professor (they got her one too), then leave and walk back in when everyone else does and act all surprised. Now, what a sweet guy he is, and such a romantic. He wanted to get them chocolates, but one girl is lactose intolerant and another has a nut allergy, so flowers seemed the safest bet. They went in search of cards, but Valentine's Day is not a big deal there, and there were no cards to be found. But still... flowers... the kid is on the right track.

I guess I don't fit in

2007-02-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

I love my blog community. I have made "friends" with some really great people via blogging. I put the word "friends" in quotes because, for the most part, we don't really know anything about each other except what each of us chooses to reveal about ourselves in our posts and comments. There are some exceptions, of course (I know Rosemary in real life, and we really are friends), but most of the folks whose blogs are listed on my blog roll are people I've never met, and probably never will meet. And though I don't necessarily believe a friend has to be someone you've met in person, the level of intimacy we share - or don't share - with our blog buddies is certainly going to be different than that shared with someone with whom you interact in real life.

In our blog world, we can ponder our words before we "speak" them. We can spend as long as we want on a post, editing it until it has just the right ring to it. (Some of us don't bother exercising that option, and post like we speak - without editing or thinking. That would be me, by the way.) We can moderate the image we present to the blog world. We don't usually have those options in real life. Like it or not, in real life, we are judged on many levels - appearance, manner of speech, personality, and so on. We communicate via body language, tone, inflection, and myriad other means, things not necessarily spoken aloud. Some of us have a tendency to respond without sufficient time to consider our words, and in the process, hurt or alienate others.

So, where am I going with all this? Growing up, in real life, I often felt as though I didn't quite fit in. I was not one of the popular kids, though I was liked, and well-known, by most of my classmates. But I didn't do the things popular kids did. I didn't wear the clothes popular kids did. I was just different. Part of me embraced this "differentness", part of me longed to be "one of the crowd." In the end, I realized that being different was best, usually. Today, I am still different in so many ways. And most of the time, I thrive on that. But that adolescent need to belong gnaws at me more often than I care to admit. In certain situations, when I realize I don't fit in, I keep my mouth shut. Anyone who knows me in real life will find their jaw dropping in disbelief. "Gina, quiet? Yeah, right." Remember, I'm Italian. We're not known for being a quiet people. In fact, parlare prima che lei pensa, fortemente e con molti gesti, (speak before you think, loudly and with many gestures) is the country motto, isn't it? But if I realize, for example, that my point of view is the minority position, I zip it right up. I'm a coward. I want to be liked, so I keep my opinions to myself when I'm in "hostile territory".

Work is sometimes hostile territory. My political and spiritual beliefs put me in the minority. There are two other people, out of 40 employees, who have political and spiritual leanings similar to mine. Interestingly, my best friend is not one of the two. She and I have diametrically opposed views on both politics and religion, but we are friends who respect each other's positions and don't demean or denigrate them to each other. On the other hand, on a daily basis, several of my coworkers make snide, derogatory remarks about those of my political, and even religious, persuasion. I just bite my tongue. They know where I stand. If they don't respect me as a person enough to refrain from bashing those with opposing viewpoints in my presence, well.... it's not worth it. Besides, I hate confrontation on these topics. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. And I want to fit in, so I keep quiet. I'm a coward.

Even among my blog friends, I find myself in the minority. And like the coward that I am, I keep my mouth shut. I don't want to argue with my friends. I don't want them to stop liking me because I have a different opinion about politics, the president, the war, religion. I am back in high school, seeking approval and acceptance. What is wrong with me? Why can't I shake this need? Why can't I just be brave enough to speak my mind, voice my dissenting opinion, and suffer the consequences? I am a coward. And why do I have so little faith in my blog friends that I assume they will abandon me if I disagree with them? That is the real question, isn't it? Do I have that little faith in people, or in myself? Do I believe that whether or not I am liked is dependent upon my agreeing with them? I apologize to all of you for even entertaining that notion. It is a reflection on me, not you. But I do struggle with that fear.

So, in the interest of full disclosure, here goes. I am a Republican. I am a Christian. I am not a right-wing conservative who thinks everything the administration does, or has done, is right. I do think for myself. But I don't think everything the administration does, or has done, is wrong either. While I think the war has turned out to be a big mess, and a whole different kettle of fish than anyone imagined, I don't necessarily believe we were wrong for going there in the beginning, and I don't believe everything we hear in the media is unbiased or that we're getting the whole story. But I also don't even pretend to have any idea how to proceed now, unlike so many Hollywood stars. I will leave that to the military experts - and last time I checked, that list did not include Susan Sarandon or Tim Robbins.

I am not an ultra-conservative fundamentalist Christian who believes that everyone who believes differently than I do is going to fry in Hell. I try to be the kind of Christian I believe Jesus taught us to be - one who truly loves his fellow man, who reserves the judgment of others to God, who strives to serve the Lord in all I do, and who fails miserably daily, but who continues to try. I am one who doesn't believe in pointing fingers at "sinners", and lambasting them for their sinful ways, because not one of us is free of sin. Adultery is no more sinful than cheating on taxes; and Christ forgives all sins. I am one who does believe that there is eternal life, and that through Christ, I am forgiven for my sins, my failings, and my shortcomings. I also believe that, as a Christian, I have a responsibility to Christ, and to everyone, to demonstrate His love, His mercy, and His grace in everything I do. I try, but fail in that regularly too. Thankfully, He understands.

So, blog buddies, there you have it. I've come out of the closet. I love you all. I think you are talented, interesting, amazing people. I respect you all. I enjoy our friendship. But I don't always agree with you politically. I am not jumping with joy over the Dixie Chicks' Grammy win, viewing it as a sign of their vindication. I think what Natalie Maines said, at the time and place she said it, was inappropriate. But I also think the nasty, threatening letters and comments made about what she said were disgusting and uncalled for. In my opinion, it is inappropriate for any entertainer to spout their political beliefs during a performance. I would not want to have paid for a ticket to Barbra Streisand's (and she's one of my favorite singers ever) concert, only to have her lash out at Bush. I am also not thrilled when entertainers use their stardom to push their political agenda, no matter what side they're on.

In writing that, I thought back to the Vietnam War era. It was not uncommon to go to concerts and listen to the entertainers speak out against the war. So, why do I feel differently now? Back then, when you went to a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young concert, you knew what to expect. You were aware of their anti-war stance. You don't go to a Barbra Streisand concert (and consider the demographic her audience likely consisted of), and expect an anti-Bush tirade. Well, you do now, I guess. If the Dixie Chicks had said what they'd said in the US, not London, maybe the backlash wouldn't have been so big. If she'd said it last week instead of on the eve of the invasion, no one would have batted an eyelash. It's all about timing, I guess. So, congratulations, Dixie Chicks, on the Grammy win. I'm going to hold out hope it was for great songwriting, and a great record, and not even consider the possibility that the award was politically motivated. You are great singers and songwriters. You have so much talent it's not even funny. Good for you. And to my blog buddies, thank you for being my friends. Thank you for liking me, even though I don't fit in. I trust my disclosure won't change a thing. I have faith.

A rare opportunity

2007-02-10T09:33:00.000-08:00

I was going to title this post "The perfect morning", but as I was typing that into the title box, it started coming up via the "auto-fill" feature - you know, where it "remembers" things you have typed before and gives you the option of just clicking on that? Well, that meant that I had already used that title, so I had to come up with something different. But this really did start out as the perfect morning, if you can consider getting up at 5:45 AM on a Saturday the start of a perfect morning. You see, The Spouse had to work today. Apparently, FedEx is expecting a lot of freight in advance of Valentine's Day, so it's "all hands on deck" today - or rather, "most hands on deck," so he was "recruited" to work. The silver lining to this cloud is that he won't be required to work a Saturday again for at least a year, except for the Saturday before Christmas. That's almost as good as getting out of jury duty, which by the way, he also did. He was supposed to be on jury duty in March. They send this questionnaire with it, with a box to check if you've been on jury duty within the past 24 months. Since he is called every two years like clockwork, and I have yet to be called ever in 24 years of living here, I marked "yes". A week later, he got a card saying he was "disqualified" as a juror at the present time. Yippee! It's not that he doesn't want to do his civic duty. He does. It's just that the way they do it here is so bizarre. You call the night before to find out if there is even a trial that week. If there is, you report, often only to be dismissed immediately due to a last-minute settlement in a case. For him, by then it's too late to go to work, so he loses a day's pay. And this goes on for a month. So, yippee.

The perfection began with a call from YS. He was with his host brother, standing outside the home of one of the brother's friends. Apparently, the host brother is in a band. He's the drummer. There are two other boys and a girl in this band. The boys had all arrived and were awaiting the arrival of the girl. They were having a smoke while awaiting her arrival. YS said that, yes, the sterotype of French smoking habits is true. "Everyone" smokes, especially the teens. Fortunately, they don't smoke in the house. YS said that the only time the smoking has bothered him was when he was at the bar with his host brother and friends. They do smoke in bars. His eyes got really irritated. The lingering smell of stale cigarette smoke on clothing is almost impossible to remove. I'm probably going to have throw his clothes away when he gets back. Maybe Febreze will help.

The host families are paid 18 euros a day in return for having the kids stay with them. Of course, that was part of what we paid for the trip, so essentially, we are paying them 18 euros a day to have our child in their home. It's worth every penny. At the end of each week, the professor gives each student an envelope containing this payment - 125 euros - to give to their host family. YS gave his envelope to his host mother, and she told him to keep it, that he would need extra money during his long stay in France. YS called and asked me what he should do, because though he insisted she take the money, she insisted he keep it. I told him it was probably fine for him to keep it, and reminded him that it was money that we had paid, not that Whitworth was paying, but to talk to his professor about it, which was what he had planned to do. When he spoke with his professor, she told him that it was not unusual for the families to do that, and that some even took their students out shopping for clothes and things, and that it was okay for him to keep the money. Next week he will get another 125 euros, so he's got plenty of spending money - almost enough to cover his trip to Italy during Spring Break, but certainly enough to cover lunches the days he'll need to buy them. That was really nice of his host family, and he will use some of the money to buy them gifts before he leaves.

The Spouse left for work at 7AM, leaving me to amuse myself for pretty much the entire day. I have toyed with the idea of going to work myself, but it's 10:25 already and I'm still sitting in my bathrobe on my sofa, laptop on my lap (where else?), cat snuggled up next to me asleep, with no real desire to do much besides blog. I'm so bad. Actually, I have been working for more than an hour. I got called from work at about 8AM. The web site was down. I logged on and saw that the web publishing service wasn't running for some reason. Fixed that. A few minutes later they called to say the self-check machine was out of service. Another service on the same server wasn't running. Fixed that. For some reason, after the backup ran last night, those two services didn't restart. There was a change made to the batch file that starts the backup due to a new product that was installed yesterday. I submitted a trouble ticket to our software vendor advising them that this was happening so they can take a look at things and see what in the newly added command is hanging things up. After doing those little tasks, I spent some time trying to figure out why we continue to have problems sending email to some specific domains. Sometimes it goes just fine, sometimes it hangs up in our queues and never gets out. I can't seem to find a rhyme or reason and it's starting to piss me off. And that's how it got to be 10:30 AM with me in my bathrobe still.

So, I could be cleaning - dusting, vacuuming (Lorraine, Rosemary, any takers?) - but I don't feel like it. I'm going to sit here, blog, watch stuff I have Tivo'd that I haven't had time to watch, catch up on back episodes of Heroes, and then, maybe I'll do housework. I will have to go to the grocery store at some point, but that's not too bad a day. I may even get a chance to read! And YS said he'd call later. He's going to Strasbourg with his host brother and friends after dinner tonight (dinner is usually around 7 PM). I'm looking forward to hearing how that was. Oh, and I'm going to watch Sunday in the Park with George and Les Choristes. I am sure The Spouse will not want to watch either. The former is a musical, and I'm watching it because YS is doing a paper on Seurat and may need some input. The latter came highly recommended by YS after he viewed it in his Everyday French class. Au revoir, mon amis!

NOT on hiatus

2007-02-09T09:22:00.000-08:00

I just thought I'd let you all know that I am going against the grain. I am not going on a blogger break. I am not taking time out to pursue other interests. I will be here, day in and day out, reading the blogs of all my blog buddies, posting on my own blog as often as possible, and basically just doing what I've been doing. Thought you all should know.

Why I could never write a cookbook

2007-02-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

Lorraine, the chef extraordinaire, is always helping ruin my diet by posting tales of her wonderful dinner parties, replete with photos of the dishes she serves, and often recipes of same. I could probably create a cookbook from her archived posts. She even contributes to an awesome recipe blog called The Bon Vivant Gourmet, along with JLow, Seattle Coffee Girl, and Jessnbekahsmom. While I love to cook (isn't that a prerequisite for being born Italian?), I seldom follow a recipe. In fact, often I start out following a recipe, discover I don't have some ingredient or other, and then improvise. The only time I follow a recipe, word for word, is when I bake, which I seldom do. Baking requires precision. Cooking doesn't, usually. To me, cooking is like painting or drawing; you adjust the creation as you go, tweaking as needed to achieve the desired end result. It's inventive, creative, and fun. Baking is work.

Now, before all you baking whizzes out there post flaming comments, let me make this disclaimer: if you know what you're doing, you understand how flour, water, sugar, salt, and the various ingredients that "fluff up" the baked goods (leavening agents), interact with one another to create the end product, so you can tweak to your heart's content. I am not endowed with that special talent, nor do I care to be so endowed. I just don't find baking, for the most part (except for excellent bread, which I really enjoy making), a pleasant experience. But give me some chicken or other protein food, some produce, wine (for the cook, of course!), olive oil, herbs and spices, a few staples like pasta or beans, and I'm off and running. My dishes may not be as pretty in presentation as Lorraine's, but they usually end up tasting pretty darned excellent.

Problem is, unless I pay close attention, it's hard to recreate that dish since I made it up as I went. I ran into this problem just last week. I made a dish that The Spouse loved. The next day I made another one he really enjoyed. He said, "I'm not sure which I like better, this meal or last night's." Great. I didn't even remember what I had made the night before. How was I going to make it again? All I knew was that it had chicken in it, and I think I served it over pasta. So, that's why you will never see a cookbook entitled Gina's Galloping Gallery of Gourmet. Besides, cookbooks are for sissies, right? KIDDING!

Amusement avec des amis en France or Fun with Friends in France

2007-02-07T07:21:00.000-08:00

YS called this morning. He was walking through Saverne, en route to meeting fellow students for an afternoon excursion and some studying. He spoke a bit in French to me. He said he is really enjoying French now; that hearing it all the time, and in context, makes it so much easier to understand than it was in class at school. He finds himself translating less and less, and actually thinking in French, which as anyone who has studied a foreign language knows, is the first step to fluency. He still struggles with comprehension with people who talk too fast, but overall, it's getting much better. Turns out, his host family has a 23 year-old daughter. She was visiting yesterday, and he had a hard time understanding her because she spoke so fast. Once she realized what she was doing, she slowed down so they could converse. I didn't get to ask him about her, as he was talking to his dad when he was relating this story, so I don't know if she lives nearby, is just away at school, or what.

He had a great time with his host "brother" the other night when they went out for a beer with his brother's friends. He shared his experience with his classmates the next day. Apparently, they all thought it sounded so fun, that most of them wanted to join him and his brother the next time they went out. He said it created a bit of a problem in that he had to pick and choose who he would invite and who he wouldn't. Apparently, the bar is small, and it would be weird to have 8 or 10 kids suddenly join him, his brother, and his brother's friends. They wanted to watch the France vs. Argentina football (soccer to us) game at the bar, but the bar has no TV, so that's out. I'm sure they'll have a great time, regardless.

Too bad he can't stay with the family for the entire semester. They will be staying in a hostel in Strasbourg after two weeks with the family. It looks like a nice hostel, but what a different environment it will be. Then on to Paris, where they will stay in a pretty nice hotel for about 4 weeks. The hotel in Caen is small, kind of like a Travelodge type motel, but just a short walk to the WWII memorials and beaches. Then back to Paris and a hostel, which means pretty limited amenities. In Nice, they are staying in an inexpensive hotel for two weeks. It's a pretty cheesy looking hotel. It's located well, not far from the beach, but the reviews on TripAdvisor say it's small, noisy, the staff is rude, and it's not all that clean. It will be interesting to hear his impressions.

And then, of course, there is his trip to Italy, with all that portends. Rome is notoriously dirty, and filled with thieves, pickpockets, etc. I do worry that these kids are so naive and innocent that they really aren't prepared for what they will encounter, and may not take the appropriate precautions. These are small-town kids from communities where locking your house or car is often unnecessary. I hope they're careful. From what I read, Rome, my beloved ancestral home, is a pit of vipers. Same for Florence and Milan. That's sad. I will probably worry non-stop while he's in Italy.

There is such a thing as too clean

2007-02-07T06:56:00.000-08:00

My mom had the right idea. She had a lot of right ideas, but today I was reminded of one in particular. Mom was not a clean freak - far from it. Our house was clean, but not spotless. Floors were vacuumed and mopped, things were dusted, dishes were done, but I doubt you could eat off the floors, and it didn't sparkle. There was usually some sort of clutter on the end tables, generally consisting of books, newspapers, and magazines she and my stepdad were reading. I vaguely remember a pile of mail - probably bills waiting to be paid - on the counter by the phone; the same place my pile of mail lives. My bedroom, which I shared with my youngest sister, was usually cluttered, but not dirty. My other sister's bedroom, on the other hand, was spotless. Suzy Homemaker. That's why she got her own room. Mom felt it was inhumane to subject her to my slovenliness. My brother's room? A hazardous waste dump. You couldn't even walk in his room most of the time. In fact, he frequently entered and exited his room via his window (California, you know). Mom let our rooms be our rooms. If we wanted to live in a pig sty, so be it.

So, why am I mentioning this? The news this morning was talking about the fact that we have become too clean, especially moms of young kids. They are constantly washing their kids, and using antibacterial soaps on them and their homes. The Daughter is guilty of this behavior. As a result of all this cleanliness, we have weakened immune systems. Our immune systems are strengthened as we are exposed to germs. Sometimes we get sick from the germs, but in doing so, we build up an immunity to the germs, so that the next time we are exposed to them, we don't get sick, or as sick. Letting kids get sick helps build their immune systems. But we've become such a germophobic society, we're actually making ourselves sicker, our immune systems weaker, and the illnesses we're falling prey to are much more devastating as a result of our weakened immune systems. We need a little dirt as kids. We need to get sick now and then. We need to stop being so germophobic. Contrary to what you may think, you're not going to die if you don't wash your hands 100 times a day. In fact, doing so might make you die!

See, Mom was right. A little dirt, a few germs, never hurt anyone.

Boycott Viacom!

2007-02-05T16:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, maybe we can get a whole wave of protest started that will wake Viacom up. As reported by Lorraine and JP, YouTube is removing hundreds of thousands of videos from its site, per Viacom's demand that they do so. The story can be found here. I am going to excerpt parts of it in case you don't feel like going to that link. As Lorraine has said, having these old MTV clips on YouTube is generating a lot of interest in bands that no one has thought of in ages. Apparently, YouTube tried to make that argument to Viacom, but they were having none of it:

Viacom, whose properties include MTV, Comedy Central, BET, TV Land and Nickelodeon, said it spent months negotiating with YouTube so that it could be paid for its material to appear on the site. That copyrighted material -- amounting to 1.2 billion streams, according to Viacom -- is uploaded by YouTube users, despite measures the site takes to stop the practice.

"YouTube and Google retain all of the revenue generated from this practice, without extending fair compensation to the people who have expended all of the effort and cost to create it," Viacom said in a statement. YouTube said it takes copyright issues seriously, but it added that media companies gain from having their shows displayed.

"It's unfortunate that Viacom will no longer be able to benefit from YouTube's passionate audience, which has helped to promote many of Viacom's shows," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement.

And we all know how much interest YouTube generates for the subject of videos show on its site. Case in point:

YouTube has already struck partnerships with CBS, NBC and others to post authorized clips on the site. Last fall, CBS said that in the first month it operated a YouTube channel, it garnered 29.2 million views, and credited the partnership for increasing ratings.

Why is Viacom being so stupid? They think their stuff is more valuable than say, that shown on a broadcast network. Can you say arrogance?

James McQuivey, principal analyst with Forrester Research, said he expects the two sides to return to the bargaining table quickly. By demanding its clips be erased from YouTube, Viacom is making a point that its shows offer more value than YouTube's other partners. Viacom shows appear on paid cable rather than broadcast channels, for instance, and "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" are consistently on YouTube's top-watched lists.

On the other hand, YouTube and Google want to come to an agreement quickly because they don't want it to appear that media companies can play hardball and dictate deal terms, McQuivey said.

You go, YouTube! I'm boycotting Viacom.

Good news from France

2007-02-05T16:22:00.000-08:00

Well, YS is really having fun in France. He was to go have a beer with the oldest boy in the host family after dinner tonight, which was at about 9:00 PM there. He was also told by his host family that he can call a US landline for free from their phone anytime he wants, so he called me at work, and his sister at home. I also found a very amazing prepaid calling card from nobelcom.com, that will allow me to call his cell phone for just 12 cents a minute on my end - less than half what I had been paying - and it will cost just 3 cents a minute for him to call us. Super groovy cool. I highly recommend this company if you want a low-price calling card - either domestic or international.

YS did call me this morning, and we talked for about 15 minutes. I was able to conference him in with his dad too, so we both got to talk to him. He was walking around Saverne, apparently lost for the moment. While we were talking, he saw the Chateau des Rohans, which is where they have their classes, so he knew how to get back from there. As he was walking, I heard him say, "bonjour" to several people. He seems to be getting the hang of things. The father is a lawyer. He doesn't remember what the mother does (he was just off the train and very tired when all the info was tossed at him, so barely remembers anything), or her name. I asked about the food. He said they eat a lot of vegetables. Their glasses are about 4 ounces, as opposed to the 12 ounce or bigger ones most of us use. He said the wine is served in a glass that holds about 2 ounces. It made him realize that, when it's in front of you, you will eat or drink what is there, without even stopping to consider how much you are eating or drinking, hence the tendency in the US to drink and eat far too much. He said the amount of food and wine served was perfect. Breakfast consisted of some sort of traditional cake with fried potatoes and some thinly sliced ham. He said it was really good. He has his own room, and broadband internet access. The class is going to a Mercedes plant Friday. It sounds just so perfectly wonderful. I am so happy for him!

Email from France!

2007-02-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

Saturday, 9:31 AM PST

I don't know what prompted me, but I decided to check my email. Voila! An email from YS. He was with his host family. They had taken a 4 hour train ride from Paris to Saverne, and everyone was really tired. The email was short, but great.

"Well Im here with my host family. Its a bit akward because with the languague barrier; but I think it will get better pretty fast:I just got out of the shower, very refreshing!!! I still havent figured out how to charge my phone or whatever (he means add minutes to it), so if you know how just send me an email. Other than that...the plane over was long and the train here was about 4 hours, and pretty much impossible to sleep on. I will write more to you all when I get more time! Love you all, YS. BTW, this keyboard is really hard to get used to :)"

I just love technology! This morning, two more emails! I am pasting them "as is" because the lack of punctuation and misspellings are explained by him in the emails.

Sent at 11:45 PM PST: "well last night was interesting.....lol im off to the class in like 5 min or so, so this will be quick. my family has 3 boys, 2 are twins (not identicql) qnd one plqys drums in a band....all of them are right around my age. i guess you have to be 18 to drive in france they speak german just as well as they do french because it used to be german before WW2. well, ill try to call you guys soon, i hqve to go get a card with K and J (the TA). love you guys, YS PS....can you tell im having a hard time with this keyboard? lol i will have to send you a picture of it"

And then at 4:38 AM PST: "well, the first day of class was fun. we talked about everyones host families and whatnot...très intéressant! the oldest boy, je pense 19 années, asked if i wanted aller avec lui et ses amis ce sour pour avoir une bière. (the oldest boy, i think 19, asked if i wanted to go with him and his friends to have a beer.) j`ai une heure avant je vais aller à la centre ville pour une promenade autour de Saverne avec la classe. (I have one hour before i have to go to the city center for a walk around Saverne with the class.) je pense que je jouerai Xbox 360 avec Mark (je ne sais pas the spelling of his name) maintenant (i think that i will play Xbox 360 with Mark(??) now.) Au revoir et je vous aime tout, YS PS: i will probably write some french in the emails just to help practice...but not every email also, forward this to everyone....and send me their email addresses"

I am thrilled that he is with a family of boys his age. It sounds like this will be very fun for him. I wish they were with a family the entire time, but this part will last only 2 weeks, then on to Strasbourg for two weeks in a hotel, then Paris for 6 weeks, also in a hotel, then Nice, and Avignon. No other homestays, sadly. The nice thing about the homestay is that they clearly have internet, which will likely change once he is in a hotel. I'm going to take full advantage of his easy access to email while he has it. Hopefully, he'll send some photos soon. Gosh, I wish I was in France! It sounds like he's already getting used to speaking French, which is great. He was so concerned about what he felt was his lack of fluency in the language. I kept trying to tell him that once he was there, immersed in it, it would be a lot easier. It appears that is the case already.

Tres bien!

The Super Bowl

2007-02-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

What a crazy game! From the first-ever-in-Super-Bowl-history-kickoff-runback-for-a-touchdown to the constant pouring rain to the final quarter, it was quite a game. We were rooting for the Colts, so we were very pleased with the outcome. We were all very disappointed in the commercials, though. I didn't think any of them were especially clever or memorable. Prince's ability to sing and dance in that weather was pretty amazing. All in all, a fun afternoon. The kids and their families were here, and we had many delicious foodstuffs, but the absence of YS weighed on us all. I don't know how families who had kids scattered across the country do it. We are such a close-knit family, and we do so many things all together, that when any part of the family is missing, it's sad. This will be a difficult 3 months, as YS will miss The Spouse's birthday on 2/22, daughter-in-law's birthday on 3/4, my birthday on 3/8, Grandson's birthday on 3/16, and son-in-law's birthday on 4/26, and birthdays around here are big deals. C'est la vie. Yay Colts! Congratulations, Peyton Manning, on being named MVP. Congratulations Tony Dungy, first African American coach to win the Super Bowl, and how cool that it's during Black History Month!

Au revoir mon fils

2007-02-05T06:32:00.000-08:00

Preparations for departure

Friday was the most hectic day ever. I took the day off work to help YS pack for his trip. That entailed also running to the store to pick up all those last minute things he didn't have, such as new underwear, notebooks, colored pencils (for the art portion of the class), a gift for his host family.... you get the picture. Getting him to actually start packing was an ordeal. His trepidation about the trip was beginning to take its toll on him. As excited as he was, he was also very nervous. His newness to French, the realization that he would actually not be able to see us for 3 months, his concerns about living in a culture where something as simple as talking was going to require a great deal of effort, was beginning to wear on him. He just wanted to sleep. I had to light a fire under him. Additionally, The Spouse was having the day from hell at work (see previous post).

YS and I got his suitcase packed with room to spare. I decided we should weigh it, since the weight limit is 50 pounds, and this suitcase can easily hold more. We had packed several books in the suitcase, books he will need for his classes in France, and you all know how heavy books are. The suitcase weighed in at 68.5 pounds. Time to start paring things down. He decided he had more clothes than he needed. Isn't that usually the case - we all pack way more than we ever wear? We started taking clothes out. I had packed two bottles of body wash, so I took out one. At 1/2 a pound each, every little bit helped. We weighed it again. Still too heavy by about 8 pounds. YS realized he could check a second bag, though he had hoped to limit his luggage to just the one large (29") suitcase and his carry-on backpack. I dug out a Microsoft day pack that I have had for a few years. He put all the books into that bag, and that pretty much took care of the weight issue. We got the suitcase down to 49.5 pounds. His bedroom was a disaster with all the packing, unpacking, and repacking, but we were running really late and needed to go. The Spouse was frustrated with how late we were, wondering how packing a suitcase could take so long. If he only knew.

Saying goodbye

I had booked a hotel room in Spokane so that we could sleep a little longer. Sadly, The Spouse didn't get off work until 8:30 PM. It took us 30 minutes to get to the hotel, and we had yet to eat dinner. While we were having dinner, Oldest Son called. He and his wife had just finished dining with her parents in a belated birthday celebration (he turned 35 on the 19th) not far from where we were staying. They wanted to see YS before his departure, so they stopped at the restaurant while we were eating and visited with us for an hour or so. We finally hit the hay at 11 PM. Alarms were set for 3:30 AM.

We got up, showered, gathered up YS's luggage, and headed to the airport. We arrived at 5:15 AM. The other students were gathering, with their parents and friends, in front of the United ticket counter. The professor who was leading this part of the trip was there organizing everything and everyone. She handed YS the letter for his host family, and directed him to the ticket agent who was handling the students. The agent checked him in, checked his luggage in (and never weighed it at all!), and he was ready to go. We all stood around for about 15 or 20 minutes, awaiting the rest of the students. Then, before we knew it, the professor grabbed her carry-on and started walking to the security checkpoint. It was time to go.

All around, parents were hugging and kissing their kids. I had been doing pretty well keeping my emotions in check until we started driving to the airport. During that drive, I started to tear up, but managed to choke the tears back before anyone saw them. Now it was time to say goodbye, and I couldn't keep them in any longer. I hugged my son goodbye. He hugged me back hard, then his dad. He hugged me again and said "thank you for everything you guys have done to make this possible". That did it. The tears fell freely. The Spouse was teary-eyed too.

And this is where I have to say how much I hate the 9-11 terrorists. Naturally, I hate what they did on 9-11, but what I also hate is that, ever since that horrible day, you can no longer walk your loved one to the gate and wait with them until they board the plane. You can't stand and watch the plane fly off into the sky, which we did a dozen times when the older kids were growing up and had to fly off to visit The Spouse's ex-wife in the summer. You can't stand just outside the door to the jetway, awaiting your loved one's arrival when they return from a trip. You have to say goodbye at the security checkpoint, and watch them disappear behind a plexiglass (probably bulletproof) divider to wait for another hour or more to board their plane - time you could be spending together before their departure, if not for the 9-11 terrorists. I really hate them for that. Now, airports are no fun for those not traveling. It sucks.
Now what?

The Spouse and I drove back to the hotel, and slept. It was 6:15 AM. We got up at 9:30, went to eat breakfast, then went back and checked out. At about 10:30 AM, we got a call from YS. He was in Chicago, where he had a 6 hour layover. The students were free to roam about the airport, as long as they didn't go outside the secure area. He said everyone was pretty energetic, despite the fact that they had all gotten very little sleep the night before. A group of them were going to go eat. He would call later.

We were going to watch Granddaughter #1 play basketball. She plays on an AAU 7th grade team that is unbeaten. They usually beat their opponents by 30 or more points. There is a girl on their team that is 5'11" - at age 12 or 13! That is amazing to me. Granddaughter #1 is 5'2". If she makes 5'6" I'll be surprised. But the girl can play - and shoot. They won, but it was a really close game. Closer than it should have been, and the officiating left a lot to be desired. The number of missed traveling calls, fouls called jump balls, and flagrant fouls that were never called, was pathetic and had The Spouse in fits, but that's just how it goes. They won by 12 or 13 points, but easily should have won by twice that. Turns out, some people we know from town, whose youngest daughter graduated with our daughter, also have a granddaughter on Granddaughter's team, so they were there watching the game too. Such a small world.

A call from Chicago

By now, it was after 3 PM and time to head home. At about 3:30 YS called. They were getting ready to board the plane for France. They had eaten at Chili's, walked around some, then mostly played cards and some games on his video iPod. I cried again when I told him I loved him. This has been almost as hard as shipping him off to college his freshman year. At 5:49 PM, I got a text message from YS. "Just now leaving...plane delayed...love you guys." His plane had been scheduled to leave at 4:15 PM our time. It was now departing 90 minutes late. Later, I would learn that the extreme freezing temps in Chicago had caused the delay. The water on the plane was frozen, they were de-icing the plane, and a latch was broken. They had to sit on the tarmac for over an hour. Since the water was frozen, the bathrooms were unusable. Fun.

The rest of the day

The Spouse's new glasses were finally in (it only took a month to get them!), so we stopped at Eyemasters in Coeur d'Alene to pick them up. Daughter called. They were in CdA too, and were on their way to The Olive Garden for lunch. We decided to meet them there. We had a really nice visit with her and her husband, great food, and then we all headed home. Everyone - Oldest Son and his family, and Daughter and her family - was coming over to our house the next day to watch the Super Bowl. Oh, did I mention - the roof is leaking again? I don't know that it is a new leak so much as the wet insulation freezing in the cold, thawing when the day warms up, and then dripping down onto the ceiling, then freezing again at night, thawing during the day, etc. It is driving The Spouse crazy. We have raked the snow off the roof more times than I can count. I can't wait until it warms up enough for the roofer to get on the roof to determine the source of the leak. It's the worst in YS's bedroom. It is really frustrating.

At 3:15 AM Sunday morning, YS called from the global cell phone I got for him. He was in Paris, on a bus en route to the train that would take them to Saverne. He had all his luggage, was very tired (a 9 hour flight), but safe and sound. Yay! He would call later if he could. It was 12:15 in Paris. Bon voyage et au revoir mon fils. Nous vous aimons et nous vous manquons.

No love

2007-02-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

I should never take a 6 day break from posting. See what happens when you do? No comments. Yesterday's post sits there, alone, sterile, no comments. How sad. Don't you just feel its pain? Doesn't it make you just want to go and hug it? It's crying out for love, and getting nothing. So sad. So very, very sad.

Today we're making lists, packing, crossing things off the lists, running last minute errands, basically going crazy. And of course, The Spouse's day at work is the worst it could be. Thanks to all the insane weather all over the country, especially in and around Memphis, freight will be coming in in waves as FedEx planes are able to take off. That means multiple waves of freight will be brought up to The Spouse to deliver, and it will be a very long day. We are spending the night in Spokane tonight because YS has to be at the airport at 5 AM (see yesterday's post). That's the hell of flying out of an out-of-the-way city. Every flight anywhere leaves at 6:30 AM and gets in at 10:30 PM. Add the 90 minute drive from here to the airport, the expected arrival 2 hours pre-flight, and it makes for ridiculously long days - or short ones, depending upon which end of things you look at. Anyway, I've got to get busy. Now, how about some love, okay?

Frantic, Frenzied, Frenetic February First; France Flight Fixation

2007-02-01T07:14:00.000-08:00

Two days until Youngest Son leaves for France. Chaos reigns, both at home and at work. This has been my week:

Monday - When we went on our REI shopping spree for clothes for YS's trip, we bought him two new pair of pants. They are made of fabric that is lightweight, wrinkle resistant, and that will dry quickly when washed. Of course, they couldn't have both pair (one khaki, one charcoal) in the same exact size. The khaki pair is the right length, the charcoal pair is two inches longer. Task 1 for Monday - take charcoal pants to be hemmed. Task 2 - call bank and order euros. Task 3 - get new tags for Audi. Task 4 - file forms for obtaining e-rate funds from the feds for our telecommunication and internet access expenses. These funds represent a 60% discount on the fees we pay for telephone, broadband, and ISP charges, and are given to schools and libraries across the nation. The amount of the discount is based upon the percentage of students receiving free/reduced lunches in the school district. The amount we receive annually is beteween $8,000 and $14,000, but it's a royal pain in the bum to get this money, and it has all sorts of strings attached - the kind of strings to which libraries are reluctant to agree. Deadilne is 5PM today. Task 1, accomplished. Pants will be ready Friday. Task 2 - the bank wants a $10 fee, on top of the exchange, to order euros. That's 10%! Forget that. He will buy euros at O'Hare during 6 hour layover, or wait and get them from ATM in France. Task 3 - unaccomplished. Task 4 - accomplished with much frustration and swearing. Also had to spend an hour working at the information desk as we were short-staffed. Today of all days.

Tuesday - Supervisors' meeting at work to discuss filtering of internet computers and compliance with CIPA/NCIPA (Childhood Internet Protection Act/Neighborhood Childhood Protection Act), or lack thereof, all relative to e-rate funding. Spouse's boss was riding with him for the day, so he was going to be inaccessible. He has to be out today. It is my best friend's 60th birthday. We always take each other to lunch for our birthdays, so she and I go to lunch at 11:30. We go to the Beach House Restaurant, hoping to watch the bald eagles that usually perch in the leafless cottonwoods in front of the restaurant this time of year. But the lake is frozen so far out that the eagles are somewhere else, somewhere where they can get closer to the water, and the fish they eat. It's a beautiful, sunny day, though, and lunch is terrific (I have pasta pescadore, which is fettucine with mussels, clams, and shrimp. YUM!) On the way back to work, YS calls to tell me he realized he can't fit everything from his dorm room in his car (he forgot to take his subwoofers out when he was home last weekend), so I need to go over to help him ASAP. I drop BF off at work, gather my belongings, and head to Spokane. I arrive at 3PM. YS has not packed a single thing yet (studying for his final kept him up all night). We dig in and start packing. Fortunately, his RD (resident director) has approved the kid YS wanted to move into his room, meaning we don't have to move his refrigerator, microwave, stereo, TV, or sofa home until May. Even his posters are staying. This kid is a good kid and YS trusts him with his stuff. And even better, the housing director, after a conversation with the RD, has agreed to assign YS the same room next year. Apparently, he had studied abroad and had come back to a "horrible housing situation", so he sympathized with YS's concerns, and was willing to bend the rules a bit. That's a big relief, as YS was stressing about next year's living situation. By 5:30 PM, we were packed up and on the road. The Spouse had a very long day. He didn't get home until almost 8:30.

Wednesday - YS has a dentist appointment at 8:30 AM, then a chiropractor visit at 10:00. He is supposed to unpack his stuff from school and start packing for his trip. I get to work and am instantly set upon by staffers complaining they can't get online. Some can, some can't. I haven't even made it to my office yet. I am carrying my purse, my lunch, my backpack, and I'm still wearing my coat. The staff thinks that if they restart their computers when they can't "get online" it will somehow magically solve all their problems. It doesn't. They're online. The problem isn't that they're not online. It's that they can't get to Yahoo. That's why some think they are online and some think they are not "online". Some have Yahoo as their start page, most don't. Those who don't, are "on the 'net", those who do, don't think they are "on the 'net." So they restart their computers, and then complain that it didn't solve the problem. Grrrrr. I explain the problem, then head to my office.

I had gotten a call at about 7:30 last night from a coworker. My boss's mother had passed away. It had been coming and expected for some time. She wasn't expected to last until Christmas, but she did. She didn't think she was going to last the night just a couple of weeks ago, but she rallied again. Today would have been her 65th wedding anniversary. I think she was trying to make it until today. She almost did. She was 80-something. She had time to make her peace with everyone, to plan her funeral, and her family was able to prepare for her departure. But are you ever really prepared? My boss will be sad for a long time. I am sad for him. I don't know when the funeral is, and though I didn't know her well, I will go to support my boss and his family - unless it's Saturday, when we are taking YS to the airport for his trip.

YS slept most of the day. No unpacking was accomplished. I will take Friday off to help him finish, to go over the list of things he needs to take, to do last minute shopping for items he will need. We will spend the night in Spokane Friday, as he has to be at the airport at 5:00 AM, and it's a 90 minute drive from home to the airport. I'm wondering where we will wait until he boards the plane, since with the new security measures in place, the only people who can go to the gates are those with tickets. I am sure all us parents will want to spend time with our kids before they leave for three months. The Spokane airport is not setup very well for waiting anywhere but at the gates. It's going to be strange. I'm starting to miss YS already. He is getting very nervous about being gone for so long, and not being fluent in French.

Thursday - Follow-up doctor's appointment for me at 9:40 AM. Nothing big - just pre-menopausal female crap I've been dealing with for a few months. I saw him for the first time in years (I've been doing my annuals with a nurse practitioner) about 6 weeks ago, because of some of these stupid female pre-menopausal issues I was having. Turns out I was anemic. I started taking iron supplements. I don't think I am anemic now. I have the world's best OB/GYN. He delivered YS. When I delivered YS, my best friend at the time was also pregnant, delivering her daughter exactly one week later. Her daughter is also a student at Whitworth. We don't see each other a lot any more - work and family obligations took us in different directions - but when we do, it's as if we just had coffee yesterday. She now works for the OB/GYN (she's a nurse), so I get to see her, and that's another perk of going to see him. Then, to work, working on projects that seem to be never-ending, getting last-minute stuff accomplished in preparation for YS's trip, then home to help with unpacking/packing, laundry, etc.

As I said, Frenzied, Frantic, Frenetic February First.

And in the news, this: French smokers say c'est la vie to to ban. That's good news for YS. He hates cigarette smoke.

Potty parity, at last!

2007-01-26T07:22:00.000-08:00

Just a quickie....

Yesterday I attended a Microsoft Launch Event for IT Pros and IT Executives. It was held in Spokane, so I had to leave at 6:30 AM and didn't get home until 7:15 PM, hence no blogging or commenting, but it was fun. Regardless of what you think of Microsoft or their products, they do know how to do these launches. The event was a promotion of Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange Server 2007, as well as the other updated products like Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server, Microsoft Dynamics & CRM, and a few other products. I have to tell you, the new stuff is pretty cool. In fact, I went from not being too enthused about Vista, to wanting to run out and buy it today. It was a great sales pitch, and I'm a pretty receptive audience (I've been called gullible). I'll go into the products in a subsequent post (I have a meeting in less than an hour), but I thought I'd share this one incident.

The event was directed at 6 different audiences. The largest of those in the morning session was the session for IT Pros. The auditorium held between 500 and 800 people, and it was full. SRO in fact. There was a break midway through the session. I decided to wait until the end of the break to even attempt to use the restroom, deciding I'd rather visit with other IT Pros than wait in a long bathroom line. You women know what I mean. The break was nearly over, so I headed to the restroom. As I neared the restrooms, I felt as if I had entered an alternate universe. There was a HUGE line outside.....the MEN'S room! These men looked like a deer in headlights. They were so confused. The women were walking in and out of the restroom very quickly, while they stood in a line that seemed to not move at all. I went into the ladies' room, where there were several empty stalls. The two or three other women in the restroom were commenting and laughing about the line for the men's room. Justice!

It dawned on me, when I reentered the presentation hall and looked around, that probably less than 10% - maybe even only 5% - of the audience was female. And surprisingly, almost all of the women in attendance were over 40. Where are the young girls? Why aren't women getting into IT? The ratio of men to women was pretty much the same for every session held that day. Sad. Ladies - IT is fun! And you don't have to worry about waiting in line to use the restroom!

Step away from the scissors!

2007-01-24T16:35:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I wish someone had said that to me this morning. Had they stopped me, I wouldn't look like the kindergarten version of Gina. I would look like the Gina in my profile photo instead. But there was no one around to stop me this morning. Here's the sad tale.

I had decided to go "bangless". Everyone is doing it, (see photo) and it looks so great. I figured it was time to do away with the bangs, get a hip new look. I had pretty much achieved my goal, as far as doing away with bangs was concerned. The hip new look, not so much. My bangs had grown out, and it was not a good look on me. In case you hadn't noticed, I have a rather large forehead. I don't have a beautiful, chisel-featured face like that of the lovely Kelly Rowan.

Being the impatient Italian that I am, I took matters into my own hands. Now, I am not a novice at this. I have trimmed my bangs before, and had them turn out just fine. But I've never actually cut bangs into a head that had no bangs. That alone should have stopped me. It didn't. I got out the scissors - not the nice, sharp kind that professionals use. No. I have those old barber style scissors with the little hook thingee on the thumb hole... you know the kind, right? And I've had these for probably 20 years, so you can imagine how sharp they are. That was mistake number one.

I parted off a very small section of hair for my bangs. I didn't want big heavy bangs like this photo, and with my thick hair, that happens a lot. That's just too many bangs for me. So, I took a very small section of hair, pulled it down straight, and then started cutting from the side of my face toward my part, in an angle, like I've seen my hairdresser do a million times. I cut them longish, or so I thought. I no sooner let go of the hair after I cut it, and my bangs sprang up almost to my hairline! I looked like the 5 year-old who decided to cut her own hair, and whose mom had to try to fix her chop job. Actually, I looked just like I did when I was 4 or 5, and Mom would cut these horrendously short, crooked things that were supposed to pass as bangs. Oh. My. God. What had I done? And how could I fix it? Well, how else?! Cut some MORE bangs, only longer, to cover my blooper. Makes sense, right?

So, I take another small section, pull it down, but this time cut them a lot longer. Perfect! But how insane was I to think this would work? The short ones are just so short that they are unhideable. So now I have these silly longer bangs that sit over the "5 year-old with scissors" bangs. It's so sad. Fortunately, once I washed and dried my hair, I was able to camouflage my hack job, for the most part. So, here I am without bangs, before my hack job:

and here I am after the hack job. Sad, isnt it?

Like I said, I needed a savior, someone to shout, "Gina, step away from the scissors!" My hairdresser father would have a stroke if he saw me.

A few updates

2007-01-23T07:41:00.000-08:00

A sense of accomplishment

The huge project I have been working on at work is nearly finished. One significant portion of it has been completed. The other parts shouldn't take much time at all now. And with the help of my technology-guru/former protege and longtime friend, who now works in Connecticut for ESPN, and who, at age 26, is making ovver $80,000 a year, I have migrated from a software-based firewall solution that ran on a 7 year-old PC which was slowly dying, to a hardware firewall that is awesome. My entire network is running so much better. We also finally were able to connect the branch to us via a VPN tunnel, which means our entire active directory is working perfectly now. That is going to be total Greek to most of you, but trust me, it's way cool.

The end is near

Youngest Son's date of departure is looming large. In less than two weeks, he will be winging his way to France with his fellow students. He has finalized his Spring Break plans. He will be traveling to Rome for two days, then to Florence for two days, then to Milan and the Lake Como region for 4 days, then back to Paris - in the company of 5 females. They have arranged their hotel rooms in Rome and Florence, and a really cool hostel in Lake Como. They have booked all their tours, with the exception of the Sistine Chapel, though they will get that arranged soon. I have purchased an unlocked GSM cell phone for him from eBay. I have ordered his prepaid France SIM card so he can use the phone in France. There are some pretty cool sites for getting all this stuff at really great prices. He got his youth hostel membership card yesterday. Now we're still trying to figure out which rail pass to get. His last class is January 30th. Then he has to move out of his dorm room, move back home, write a paper on Seurat and pointillism, print it to take with him, pack, buy any last minute things he's forgottene, and then leave on the 3rd of February. There really is so little time, and I'm starting to get stressed out. Breathe, Gina, breath.

The leaky roof

I came home Friday night, looked up at the living room ceiling, and was pretty pleased. It was almost completely dry. I thought to myself, "hey, this may be okay after all." That was wishful thinking. I went into Youngest Son's bedroom. The water had moved from the middle of the ceiling to the bottom, where the wall meets the ceiling. Almost the entire length of the ceiling where it joined the wall was wet. The wall was wet at least 3, and in some places 6, inches down. Fortunately, the wall is cedar, so we didn't have to deal with wet sheetrock - in that room. The ceiling in the spare room was similarly wet. The cedar walls there are painted, so you couldn't see the wet cedar. Our room was another story. We have sheetrock on the east wall. There were these four big streaks down the wall with a bubble of water, like a blister, at the bottom of the streak. You could see how the water had slowly inched its way down the wall, separating the paper on the sheetrock from the sheetrock itself. Evenutally, the blister of water hit the edge of the sheetrock where it meets the sliding door frame, and then dripped onto the floor below.

The ceilings and walls are all dry now. The stains on the cedar will blend in over time, and will eventually look like wood grain. The walls in the sheetrocked rooms will be repainted. Why the roof leaked it still a mystery. Friday night it snowed 8 inches. Saturday, we raked the snow off the roof on the east side of the house about halfway up the roof. There was layer of ice about an inch or two thick under the snow, but that shouldn't cause it to leak. Everyone has a layer of ice on their roof. The Spouse thinks it was a weird weather fluke. We had those high winds, some snow, rain, ice, and more winds. He thinks something weird just happened that caused the leak - maybe even snow being blown into the rafters from the gable ends during the high winds, that eventually melted. It's possible. I'm still having the roofer come look at it to make sure nothing is amiss. The roof looks fine from the ground - no lifted shingles, none missing - so really, it is a mystery. I'll post photos of the damage.

An enjoyable birthday bash

Saturday afternoon, we headed for Spokane to celebrate Oldest Son's 35th birthday. We all met at the Olive Garden downtown. The party consisted of Oldest Son's family, Daughter's family, Youngest Son, us, and Daughter-in-law's sister and her boyfriend and daughter. The food was great, by the way. We had a really fun time with everyone. Then, too quickly, it was time to head back home. It's hard to believe OS is 35! Wow.

Unbelievable video

2007-01-19T14:47:00.000-08:00

Sara, of No Accuser, has this video on her site. For those who haven't been here, I'm putting it here too. This is just unbelievable. I know the feeling of having your seemingly invincible SUV (in my case, a Suburban) start sliding uncontrollably. It's not the fault of the driver when that happens. If you can, you aim for a snowbank and pray you stop so you can put chains on - if you have them. This must have been one icy day!

Portland Drivers on Slick Roads

I really didn't need this

2007-01-19T14:15:00.000-08:00

This morning, I was rejoicing in the fact that I accomplished what I set out to accomplish this week, relative to work anyway. I was saving a program to VCR from TiVo for my girlfriend at work, so I was sitting in the living room watching said program as I saved it. I happened to look up at the ceiling, at which point the words "Oh.My.God!What.The.Hell?" escaped my lips. We have cathedral ceilings throughout the house. On those ceilings is tongue-and-groove cedar. And as of this morning, lots of wet spots. I freaked out. I went to check the rest of the house. Every room on the east side has several wet spots on the ceiling. The west side is fine. This is not good. For 20 years we had a cedar shake roof. We decided it was time to replace it about three years ago. We went for a very nice, 30-year warranty, composition tile roof. And for the first time since we built the house, we have leaks. And I'm talking dripping onto the brick hearth leaks. No more rejoicing. Oh, and did I mention, it's snowing to beat the band today? Yeah, it is.

I told The Spouse about the problem when he called me at 9 AM. He's freaking out, of course. These leaks are weird, too. There are a couple of wet spots where you might expect to find them - where the roof and outside wall meet - but the worst ones are about 5 feet from the eaves, on a roof that is one straight run - a 60 foot by 15 foot rectangle, with no valleys, no skylights, nothing that could be the source of a leak. It's just one huge expanse of roof. The roofer is no longer roofing. He's general contracting, building custom homes. He isn't in the phone book any more either. But, this being a small town, it didn't take me long to find him. He's in the middle of remodeling a space for his girlfriend's saddlery business, which just moved from our mall to this new space. I found the new space, saw his truck outside it, and went inside. He greeted me with "Hi Gina, how are you?" to which I replied "not so good". I told him about the problem, and he was genuinely alarmed and puzzled. I told him I had looked for any ice dams, and there isn't an icicle to be found on our eaves. There is a small buildup of ice around the chimney, and it might account for one of the leaks in the living room, but it could not be responsible for the leak 30 feet away at the end of the house. He told me that they used a bunch of snow and ice shield when they did the roof so that ice dams wouldn't build up. He was stymied. He said he'd come look at it - when it warms up some, and the snow is off the roof. We have about 3 inches on it right now. How we go about solving this is beyond me. What's worse is, what do we do about the wet cedar ceiling? It's going to stain and look terrible. But they don't make this stuff anymore, and it wouldn't match the rest of the ceiling if we did replace it. And then there's the insulation. How wet is it? I suspect it's very wet. Hopefully, it will just dry out this summer, but still.

To make matters worse, I called Oldest Son, who is our homeowner's insurance agent, and asked him what to do about filing a claim. He suggested we wait until we figure out why it's leaking and if the roofer is going to fix it. Consumed with this problem, the date escaped me. I completely forgot today is his 35th birthday. I am such a bad mom. I called him just a bit ago, and got his voice mail. He's probably mad at me. I don't blame him one bit.

So, that's my day. How's yours going?

Busier than a one-armed paper hanger

2007-01-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

That's me! I know not blogging for days on end generally results in reduced readership, something I can ill afford, but I am so busy right now I have little time to blog. That is not to say I don't have several topics on which I would like to blog, or that I haven't written dozens of brilliant, scintillating posts in my head as I try to fall asleep at night. I do, and I have. Sadly, they will likely never see the light of blogger. I am in the midst of a huge project at work that has required 10-hour days from me. That is not likely to change before the week's end, and you all know I don't blog on the weekend, so please don't abandon my blog as I endure this excruciating blogging hiatus. I will return with a vengeance next week. And I just might surprise you all with a post or two this week, if time permits. This hiatus also likely affects commenting and reading my favorite blogs as well, so please forgive my absence. I will miss you all very much. In fact, Rosemary and I were explaining our little blogging community today to my boss and another board member, sharing just how much we cherish the friendships we have made via blogging, and how fun it is to blog. Neither of them really got it. Too bad. We both said it's one of the most fun things we do.

Now, back to work, yet again.

I'm sorry, I can't help it

2007-01-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

I've said this before: I am a grammar nazi. I can't help it. It's my mom's fault. She was a superb speller, and even more of a grammar nazi than I am. That last part isn't true. I think I'm much worse than she was, but you get the picture. I inherited the gene. She reinforced it through example and training. If I'm reading an article, and run across a spelling error, I fixate on it. A typo I can handle, but an honest-to-goodness spelling error stops me in my tracks. Grammatical errors do likewise. Given that I am burdened by this character flaw, I avoid reading our local newspaper. It is rife with spelling and grammar errors, let alone an unbelievable number of typos, and to my chagrin, it gets worse all the time. Fortunately, it's a very small paper; about 6 to 8 pages most days, not including the classifieds. Laughingly, they want just a couple dollars a month less for a subscription to it than it costs to subscribe to the much more substantial real newspaper (as opposed to this pretend newspaper) out of Spokane, to which we do subscribe. I do see the local paper on a regular basis, since we get it at work. I will often take 3 or 4 minutes and skim through it. Everyone in town jokes that they only read it for the obits and the police blotter. I logged on to their site this morning to check on the weather, and saw an article on the power outages we had Tuesday night. I shouldn't have. It got my grammar nazi hackles up. How many errors can you spot in the following story? I'll make it easy for you. I'll highlight them in red.

About 1,000 Northern Lights customers living south of Sandpoint were without power for several hours when BPA lost power to its substation, according to a NLI press release. Power went out about 7:30 p.m. and was back on by 9:50 p.m., said Elissa Glassman, NLI communications director. The "extremely high gusty winds Tuesday evening" Northern Lights experienced scattered outages throughout its service area. (Does this sentence even make sense? We're missing a comma, not to mention a verb or two.)

About 300 Northern Lights customers also lost power north of Sandpoint because of the storm.

As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, less (should be FEWER) than 100 customers were without power, Glassman said. (Um, was this a quote? Then where are the quotation marks?)

About 1,000 customers in the Hope area lost power after a tree fell across two lines, said Debbie Simock of Avista Utilities. (another quote sans quotation marks)

"We had to have a tree removed before we could make repairs," she said.

Power was restored in the area about 1 p.m. Wednesday.

About 14 Clark Fork area customers were still without power as of mid-afternoon because a downed-pole (this is hyphenated why?) had to be replaced. That outage effected (affected, not effected) people along Cascade Creek and NFD 419.

The storm also uprooted some trees in south Sandpoint, including a couple at Lakeview Park near Memorial Field.

If you are experiencing a power outage, Northern Lights ask that people be patient while calling its office.

The lines may be busy due to the high volume, so keep trying. To report outages, call 263-5141 or 1-800-326-9594.

If you see downed power lines or a tree, do not go near it. (Wow, we can't go near trees now.) Call the sheriff's department or Northern Lights immediately.

Keep in mind, that's just one article. Oh, and it was the lead story on the front page. The article never did explain why our power was out from 12:15 AM until 1:45 AM. That's The Daily Bee for you. Now you understand why I can't read it without cringing.

Oh, and I just remembered. I am so excited! We are getting the entire 26-volume Oxford English Dictionary at work! It's usually ridiculously expensive, but apparently they have offered it to us at an insanely low price, so we're getting it! I really can't wait. It's the dictionary lovers dictionary. As much as I love words, and grammar, and etymology, and, and, and... well, it will be amazing. Expect "word of the day" posts once it arrives. I know you all just can't wait.

Comet McNaught

2007-01-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

The front page of the newspaper the other day had a little story about Comet McNaught. It is apparently the brightest comet in 30 years, and may end up being the brightest comet ever once it's finished its trek across the sky. The article said it would be visible from 4:50 to 5:15 PM last night, so I set my alarm on my cell phone. At 4:50 PM, I went outside in the freezing night and scanned the western sky. The comet was supposed to be right of Venus in the sky, and a little lower than Venus. I saw Venus right away. No comet. I looked for it for twenty-five minutes. Nothing. I figured the mountains to the west must have obstructed my view, but today I found all sorts of photos of the comet taken from all over the place. I can't believe that I couldn't see this comet given what the photos depict. It's bright, and has a really long tail. Several of the photos show mountains or hills every bit as high as those to my west, with the comet well above those hills. I might be able to see it tonight, and if not the entire comet, I should be able to see the tail. I'm setting my alarm again. The photo above was taken from Great Falls, MT. Those of you in the southern hemisphere should get quite a show over the next few days. Keep your eyes peeled!

2007-01-12T07:01:00.000-08:00

Oh goodie...my thermometer says it's 2 above outside. That's down from 4 above when I got up at 5:00. Doesn't the temperature usually rise as the sun does? Apparently, not today. The "official" temperature at the airport, our national weather station, is zero. The low tonight is supposed to be somewhere between -1 and -9. I'm so excited my teeth are chattering in anticipation.

Lasik - the final outcome

2007-01-10T06:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, The Daughter and I went for our 3 month Lasik check-ups. Pretty much, the vision we have now is the vision we will continue to have, though we will have one more check-up just before our one year anniversary in case either of us needs an enhancement. The end result is that The Daughter has 20/15 vision, while mine is 20/20-ish in my left eye and 20/25-ish in my right eye. I still have a bit of an astigmatism in my right eye, but not so much of an astigmatism that it interferes with my vision. My vision fluctuates a bit. If I am on the computer all day, my distance vision is not as crisp as it is when I'm not on the computer all day. If I'm out doing stuff that requires distance vision, my close vision isn't as good as when I'm on the computer all day. But if I'm continually moving between near and distance viewing, my overall vision is just fine. It seems that when I do one for any extended period of time, it takes my eyes awhile to adapt to the other. I can live with that. Especially since I can read without glasses. And the optometrist told me that, if I can hang onto my reading vision for 3 or 4 years, I will probably never need reading glasses! Apparently, the lens in the eye stops changing in the mid-fifties for most people, so the status of one's presbyopia at 55 is pretty much what one can expect from there on out, barring some eye trauma or disease. I'll be 52 in two months. I am praying my reading vision stays put for the next few years.

Bottom line - if you are a candidate, go get Lasik! Even The Daughter, who had to have PRK, which is a much more painful procedure with a much longer recovery period, would recommend it enthusiastically. There is just nothing like being able to see 24/7. And after spending $125 yesterday after insurance, on The Spouse's new glasses, I'm even more convinced that the cost of Lasik (in my case, a mere $1400), is worth every penny. Unfortunately, The Spouse's vision problems can't be corrected by Lasik. He always had 20/20 vision until about 10 years ago. Then he developed a slight astigmatism, and now has presbyopia. He's SOL when it comes to Lasik, but at least he had 46+ years of perfect vision.

If you're pondering Lasik, but you're scared, don't be. Really. Just be sure to go to someone who has done a lot of surgeries, and don't be afraid of the inexpensive, high volume places, imagining they are the Wal-Mart of Lasik. The reality is, the doctors at these places have done thousands of surgeries, and just have the whole process down so that they can do a lot of surgeries in a short amount of time, which allows them to charge less. The place we had our surgeries done is called Luna Eye Centers. The doctor is Dr. Daniel Peters. He is awesome! He works in the Spokane, Bellevue, and Beaverton. If you're anywhere near those places, and you even THINK you want Lasik, GO! You won't regret it.

You have to look at this - seriously

2007-01-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

I don't know how long this will be there, but really, check out the webcam at Schweitzer. When I checked the cam just now to see what the view was like, and scrolled down to the picture of the snow depth measuring stick, I just had to chuckle. Someone has a great sense of humor.

Beyond the photo in question, just the view out over the lake, and then the one up the hill are kind of neat. The one out over the lake actually looks over my neighborhood. It's hard to see in the night shot, but in the day shots it's just before the water starts in about the middle of the shot.

Avalanches

2007-01-08T07:47:00.000-08:00

One thing that is unique to living near a ski resort is that the sound of explosions at 7 AM on a winter day does not set the lights on the 911 switchboard flashing. I was sitting here blogging, listening to the "boom! boom!" of the explosions up on the ski hill, and realized how infrequently I am even aware of them. It's avalanche control. The ski patrol guys are up there setting off charges to start avalanches, so that a wayward skier doesn't. With all the snow we had over the weekend, there are probably lots of potential avalanches up there. "Up there" is only about 6 miles as the crow flies from my house. The base of the ski hill is 7 driving miles away. The resort village is another few miles up the hill, a drive that takes about 20 minutes. So, when they set off the explosions, it's pretty loud here. The TV is on (big gas leak in NYC apparently, making everyone sick and scared), but the explosions are easy to hear - and feel. The windows are rattling.

We interrupt this program..... the cat from across the street just dashed across my deck, obviously after something. I went to the door to see what it was after, but couldn't see him. I sat back down, and suddenly there is the cat, at my sliding glass door, a bird in his mouth. I guess he wants to show me what a great hunter he is. I love cats, but I hate to see them eat birds. This poor bird was just hopping along, minding his own business, and now he's cat food. I opened the door to try to scare the cat into dropping the still alive bird. No dice. The cat just ran off, the bird's wings flapping madly, clenching the bird in his teeth. That cat is one helluva hunter. All summer long he leaves mouse carcasses in our yard, on our deck, and in the flower beds. I'm glad he catches mice, but I am not so fond of the bird catching. He has gotten more than few baby birds, and it makes me really sad.

Kaboom! Kaboom! It's going to be a great day for skiing. It's sunny and there is probably a foot of new powder. Click here to check out the live web cams (the lens on the first one on the page has snow on it, but the other two have great shots!)

Of Christmas decorations and Honda snowblowers

2007-01-08T07:01:00.001-08:00

The Christmas decorations are down now, and all safely stowed until next year. The Spouse helped this year with the takedown, which was at the same time nice and frustrating. I was trying to take the village down, which requires carefully replacing each piece into its respective box exactly as it came when new, because I'm really anal about stuff like that. I'd be in the midst of putting a building away, when The Spouse would ask, "where is this ornament?" while holding up a box with a picture of the ornament on it. Gee, hon, can you just look for it? Obviously, he wanted me to locate the ornament so he could put it into its box. So, I abandoned the village deconstruction to focus on the tree. I have always done this myself, and I do have a system for putting the ornaments away, so it made sense that I take charge. He removed the ornaments from the tree, laying them nicely on the sofa table, while I fetched the boxes for the ones that have specific boxes (Hallmark ornaments, for example), and wrapped the others in tissue and put them in zip-lock plastic bags. He then put them all in the ornament storage boxes. Youngest Son helped him put the storage boxes up in the attic while I finished taking down the village. Then came the tree itself. It came in a box - a box that looked much too small to have ever held the tree. We managed to get the bottom and middle sections smooshed down enough to fit into the box, but no way the top section would fit. It went into heavy duty plastic bags, doubled up to make them stronger. The tree in the box and bagged top were then stowed in the garage until next year - right next to our old tree, which really has to go. We're pretty sure Oldest Son wants it, so we'll probably take it over to his house next weekend.

So, the house is back to normal now. I rearranged stuff a little, moving a bunch of the family photos to the top of the TV where the village sat. I really wanted to keep the sofa table behind the sofa (logical, right?), but The Spouse wanted it back under the mirror where the tree was, and where it's been for years. Okay, for now. But once I find something better to go under that mirror, the sofa table will live behind the sofa.

It snowed all night Saturday, and some Sunday morning, but then it started raining. Youngest Son left for school at about one. The accumulated snow/slush in the street was almost beyond passable. The Spouse and the same-first-name-as-the-spouse neighbor got their Honda snowblowers out and began the removal process. Then the UPS driver neighbor came over with his Kabota tractor and plowed the huge berm the snowplow driver had left in front of our house and the house across the street. He used the bucket in the front of his tractor to scoop up the snow and pile it in the yard, off the street. He mostly just wanted to play with his tractor, but we didn't mind. If the county isn't going to do the job right, between The Spouse and the neighbors, we can do a much better job of clearing the street, and not leave berms in front of our driveways. The same-first-name-as-The-Spouse neighbor was gone snowmobiling over the holidays, so was shocked to come home and see the horrible job the county had done. As I said, we've never had this problem in 22 years of living here, so to see the street pretty much not plowed after days of snowstorms, was pretty surprising. He and The Spouse spent a good half hour discussing the issue while their matching snowblowers idled. It was kind of cute.

Speaking of snowblowers, I have to put in a plug for Honda. When we first built here, we had a small Sears Craftsman snowblower. It worked okay, but didn't throw the snow as far as The Spouse would have liked. The neighbor moved in a year after we built our house. He had a funny old Ariens machine that had switchable parts. It could be a lawnmower in the summer and a snowblower in the winter. It did an okay job, but seemed to break down a lot. The neighbor bought a Honda. Apparently, he got some sort of amazing deal. For the next few years, The Spouse would watch in envy as the neighbor would snow blow his driveway, throwing snow so far it almost landed in our yard. It was a sight to see. The Spouse wanted a Honda so bad, but they are expensive. Finally, the time came to replace the little Craftsman. You'd think it was a no-brainer, right? Not so much. We looked at the Honda's, but the idea of spending $1800 for a snowblower was still a tough nut to crack. We bought a big, huge, fancy Craftsman with tons of horsepower, for about $600 less than the smaller Honda. Big mistake.

Though it was bigger in width and horsepower, it didn't throw the snow as high or as far as the neighbor's Honda. And it kept breaking shear pins. Then it started losing washers, nuts, bolts, all over the garage floor. The repair guy was a constant visitor, but he only came up once a week from Coeur d'Alene, which was a very bad thing. We needed a snowblower that worked, not one that was broken more often than not. Fortunately, the neighbor took pity on us, and did our driveway when our snowblower was broken. We told Sears we were not happy. The owner of the local Sears (it's one of those small town ones that only carries hardware, patio stuff, and tools, no clothing and other stuff, and he OWNS it) told us to just bring it back at the end of the season for a full refund. We did, and bought the Honda. The Honda is amazing. It throws the snow clear across the driveway and into the yard - a distance of about 25 or 30 feet. And it's so easy to use, I can run it. It's kind of humorous to see The Spouse and the same-first-name-as-the-spouse neighbor with their matching snowblowers clearing the cul-de-sac. The two other poor neighbors both struggle with inferior snowblowers that barely throw the snow into their yards, and I can't help but wonder if they also watch with envy, as The Spouse once did, while the two Hondas send streams of snow high into the air and across the entire width of the street.

Of Christmas decorations and Honda snowblowers

2007-01-08T07:01:00.000-08:00

You mean it's snowing in January? How odd!

2007-01-05T20:39:00.000-08:00

I have to say, we have had some pretty mild winters the past few years. So mild that our annual Winter Carnival, that once featured snow sculpture contests all along our two main streets, has been "warmed out" for years. No snow sculptures. Not even any snow anywhere but up on the ski hill. It was uncanny. Winter Carnival week would come, and we'd have highs in the 40's, rain, Chinook winds - everything but snow. The first ten or so years we lived here, Winter Carnival was always cold and snowy. A dozen or more snow sculptures lined First Avenue and Cedar Street, our two main drags. Every winter-themed event was carried out right in town. We had plenty of snow. Well, this year looks to be a return to normalcy. So far today we've gotten 5" of snow, and it's snowing steadily. And here's a shot of the front of the house from last week.

snowy house

This is looking out from my porch, across my front yard, down my street, with our ski area, Schweitzer Mountain Resort in the distance.

snowy street

Now, The Spouse and our neighbor snow blow the street the entire length of both our properties and about 8 feet into the street. They do this so we don't get a big berm in front of the driveway after the snow plow comes through. This has been a very successful tactic for years. But last year a new crew started plowing our neighborhood. The guy who does our street has a real attitude problem. After he plowed, the 8 feet that had been cleared by The Spouse, was buried in snow. And he didn't even bother to plow all the way to the curb on either side of the street. We had huge chunks of snow in front of the driveway. I took photos and sent them to the county road department. I was told that the solid waste department plows us now. What?????? They forwarded my email a week ago. I've had no reply. I wonder what the street will look like tomorrow morning. Here's what it looked like a few days ago after the plow came through. This is our mailbox.

bad plow job

This is the end of our cul-de-sac with our neighbor's driveway on the left. Note the huge "snowballs" the plow so kindly left in our path.

bad plow job again

And this is how he left the access to the fire hydrant, until The Spouse went after him and made him come back to clear the area in front of it, like he's supposed to do.

inaccessible hydrant

Did I mention - it's snowing now? And it's supposed to snow all night and all day tomorrow? I'll take pics. Oh, and Winter Carnival starts next week, and they're predicting below zero temps.

Baby it's cold outside

2007-01-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

....And snowing to beat the band. There is a winter storm warning in effect until tomorrow AM I think. Perfect. Youngest Son heads back to school on Sunday in a car sans snow tires. I'll worry myself sick from the time he drives away from the house until he calls to say he's arrived in one piece.

Monday he begins Jan Term - a 3 1/2 week long intensive term during which the kids take one class 5 days a week for three hours, and if they want, a PE class that is not usually offered except during Jan Term, like ice skating, snowboarding, or something equally fun, for a total of 4 credits. YS will have "Everyday French" from 9 to noon, and then ice skating from 1:00-2:00. He took ice skating last year during Jan Term and had a blast. He's looking forward to perfecting his mad skating skilz. Besides, there are usually a lot more girls than guys in ice skating class, so his odds are pretty good. It makes a great ice breaker (pun intended)...."hey, let's go practice our skating tomorrow night, maybe grab a bite to eat"... you get the picture. The Everyday French class is a prerequisite for his France trip, which is now a mere 4 weeks away. The class descriptions makes me want to take it:

"No English allowed. Students immerse themselves in the language in a non-structured situation. Shopping, meals, conversation. Class offered in an informal setting: small groups, games, movies, songs, cooking, skits. A fun, intensive class (3 hours minimum per day), that allows students to know they can speak French. Required of beginning language students going on the France Study Program. FR 130 may be used to fullfil the foreign language requirement if taken before the program."

Doesn't that sound fun?! Lucky duck.

The roads have been in horrible shape. The main streets are pretty clear, but the side streets are scary, and the roads in the outskirts are downright dangerous. During the holidays, we had two storms back-to-back. Then it rained a little, and then it got really cold. I don't know what the problem was, but the plows did a terrible job. The roads in town are so bumpy you can barely stay in your lane. There are all these super hard patches of thick ice, live reverse potholes. You'll be driving along just fine on bare pavement, then hit a patch of this lumpy, icy stuff and lose traction just long enough that your car slides a few inches to the side, then catches hard on the next patch of pavement. It's hard to describe, but anyone who has lived in snow country knows what I mean. That's in town. In the outskirts, the roads are solid ice, and with the rain we had a couple of days ago - non-stop rain for two days - they became water on ice. The Spouse has had to drive roads like this from 8 AM until 8 PM for the past week. I'm amazed he's alive. He has has to walk in to a lot of the places he delivered to because even his four-wheel drive truck couldn't make it up or down the steep, narrow, icy driveways. He was telling me last night about one stop yesterday that he managed to get to the house, only to discover there was no way to turn around. He had to back several hundred yards, down a narrow, winding, icy private road/drive, then up a steep incline onto the county road, onto which he had to make a quick, hard left turn (all in reverse), and brake immediately, not knowing when he'd come to a stop. As it turned out, he slid about 30 feet backward down the hill before he came to a stop. No way I could do that job. And now he's out there driving in this snowstorm, on those same horrible roads, which are now snow on ice. In the dark. No wonder he wants to retire now.

Coworkers who live out in the boonies are leaving now. I don't live that far out of town, and only have to drive on flat roads, so I have no excuse to leave early. Darn. We were planning on going to Spokane tomorrow to take YS shopping for stuff for his trip. I don't think we'll be doing that now. The Spouse has already said he has so many miles to drive, such hard stops, and so many stops, that he won't be home until 9:30 tonight. That was before it started snowing. He can't work much past that, so I suspect some folks won't be getting their FedEx today. He's only human.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

Post-holiday mess

2007-01-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

Lorraine was bemoaning the mess she was facing post-holiday. I feel her pain. While I magically escaped the overflowing recycling bins part of her mess by making sure that I didn't serve a single holiday meal, or host a single holiday get-together at my house (my daughter's or my oldest son's homes were the venues for those events), I still have a big mess to clean up. I have not taken down one single Christmas decoration yet. I don't plan to do anything until the weekend. I think I'm actually going to miss some of them, like my village. I love my village. It started off with pieces from K-Mart. Then I splurged and bought some Department 56 pieces. I could go broke buying Department 56 pieces. I didn't buy any new pieces this year, but it took a lot of willpower. So, here is a photo this year's village setup.

My Village

This is the first time I have put it on the TV, and I loved it there. I could keep this up all year, really. I just love the little scene. The buildings in the back are the K-Mart models. The more detailed pieces in the front, including the people, the fly fisherman, the bridge and stream, are all Department 56 pieces. The Christmas tree is to the right of the TV. Unfortunately, every picture I took of it came out blurry. I will try one last time before I take it down. Here's what the hearth looked like:

Hearth Decor (The Santa hanging above the window is one of two that belonged to my mom. They play "Jingle Bells" and are really, really old and special to me.)
And here's the sofa table with my snow globes and old time Santas:

snow globes

So, that's a bit of the Christmas decor waiting to be deconstructed. Next post will contain some Christmas pictures, and some snow photos.

Be it resolved....

2007-01-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, January 2, 2007, I started off the day perfectly. I went to the gym. I even ate breakfast. At 5:30 AM. That was actually more difficult than the workout. I really am not fond of eating first thing in the morning.
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Ok, wait a sec...the TV is on as I'm typing, and there are these three women being interviewed on "Regis and Kelly" right now (it's the East Coast feed). They just finished doing a little soft shoe routine. They are pretty energetic gals, and one just said she is 92! Holy crap! The other two are over 80. Okay... and I'm sitting here on my sofa typing. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
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So, as I was saying, I ate a really good breakfast of meusli. I then headed out to the gym, where I got in a little weightlifting before I had to shower, change, and take my car in for an oil change. The plan is to eat healthier, workout daily, and get back into shape. As a result, I have vowed not to park my behind on my sofa every morning and blog and comment on blogs, which has been my routine for most of the past year. That begs the question - when will I be blogging and commenting? I know you're all dying to know. Hopefully, going to the gym as early as I should be getting there will result in getting to work much earlier, which should result in getting home earlier, leaving me time to blog and comment before The Spouse gets home.

The possible fly in this ointment is that I won't leave work any earlier. But I'm going to try. Last night, I no sooner walked out the door when work called my cell with a problem. I had been there all day, and not a single problem cropped up. I leave early, and I get a call. Go figure. I went back, walked in the door, and was told everything was fine. Grrrrrr!

I don't like to make New Year's resolutions. We all know, they are rarely kept. But I do want to make some changes, and what better time to start than after all the holiday revelry, parties, meals, and stress? It just happens to coincide with the beginning of the new year. I've been moving toward this "makeover" for a couple of months now. One of the hurdles I had to overcome was to complete the project at work that has consumed me for the last year. That happened on 12/24/06. I have about 4 more huge projects underway, but they are not as all-consuming as this one was. Completion of this project means I shouldn't have to work from home early in the mornings as often, which means I really have no excuse for not going to the gym.

So, that's the plan. Go the gym. Eat better. Clean my office and get it organized. Pretty basic, huh? So, you all have to hold me accountable, okay? Good. Now, off I go.

A brief blogging respite

2006-12-28T20:26:00.000-08:00

Just in case you all wondered where I've been.... I took this week off work, which means they just call me a dozen times a day since I'm not THERE. It also means I am not blogging, or commenting on all your blogs, for the most part. I miss you all, and I hope you miss me too. We've had lots and lots of snow since Christmas Eve. It's beautiful, really. Today was sunny and gorgeous. Youngest Son, Oldest Son, and Oldest Granddaughter went skiing/snowboarding and said the conditions were the best in ages.

Christmas was terrific. I have photos. I will post them next week when life is back to normal. In the meantime, hugs to you all, and Happy New Year to my blogging family!!! You are all awesome!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2006-12-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

The streets were no longer snow-packed, and most of the snow had melted from sidewalks, driveways, rooftops, and even yards. It was starting to look like a patchwork Christmas. This morning I awoke to - SNOW! The Spouse is not happy, as it will make driving a lot more treacherous, and all those people who can't get out of or into Denver are none too pleased, but you can tell most everyone else in these parts is pretty thrilled. We WILL have a white Christmas after all.

I just finished reading Lorraine's posts about their ordeal, complete with photos of the "Big Ass Tree". I had to laugh at one photo. It showed a male cutting a branch into firewood - with a hacksaw. City people. I wonder how many blades he broke? 'Round these parts, we all have chainsaws, or at the very least, wood saws, even those of us who never get firewood. It's part of the residency requirements. You have to be able to make a living as a logger, firewood gatherer/seller, or contractor at the drop of a hat. That means you must have a) a chainsaw or b) a wood saw and circular saw and c) a pickup or utility trailer or d) all of the above. We have d) all of the above. And The Spouse has gathered firewood, worked as a contractor, and worked in a mill during our tenure here. You do whatever it takes to get by.

Quickly

2006-12-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

I took this "what pinup girl are you" quiz I found on Evangeline's site. It said I'm "The Innocent". Interesting. The tag line said "You're sweet, occasionally shy, and men can't resist your virginal appeal!" Riiiiiggggghhhhhhhtttttt... Well, it was fun, even it is a lie.

The Staff Party

2006-12-19T18:18:00.000-08:00

This morning was our annual staff holiday party. Everyone brings a bunch of great food, some of us contribute to local charities, and we just visit and have a great time. Oh, and I always write a holiday story incorporating every staff person, and as much as possible, some distinct aspect of their job or personality, or both. In past years I've done a version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, where our maintenance guy is awakened in the middle of the night, and asked to come down to the library to help get Santa and his reindeer off the roof and patch the hole they made when they crashed landed. Of course, every staff member is called in to action, using their particular skills, in order to get Santa back on his way, thus saving Christmas. And it all rhymed. One year it was a take-off on The Grinch - again in rhyme a la Dr. Seuss. Last year I did a version of A Christmas Carol. One of our youngest staff members, Leah, filled the role of Tiny Tim. She was called "Little Leah" - a name that stuck for several weeks. This year, the theme was It's a Wonderful Life. Leah again played a pivotal role, acting as a sort of Charlie the angel-in-training. Actually, it was more along the lines of the Chrismukkah episode of The O.C., in which Ryan and Taylor are knocked unconscious, and awaken in an alternate world where they have to figure out what they need to learn in order to return to the normal world. That was sort of the theme in my story. It was fun. I had two people going to jail, one for embezzlement, one for sexual assault (all trumped up, of course), people working as waitresses and receptionists, all sorts of crazy things, all because one person thought his job didn't matter, so he had to be shown what the world would be like if he didn't work here (ergo the prison sentences and other bad stuff). But people missed the rhyming, so I'm doing a New Year story for the staff, with rhyming.

The food - we had chorizo quiche (YUM!), bacon and cheese quiche, bagels, brownies, cheeses, salami, all sorts of wonderful, fattening, salty stuff. And then I had a doctor's appointment, during which I noticed my water-retaining ankles, just about the time my blood pressure reading came back on the high side. Wow, if there were ever a case to be made for not consuming salt, the way I looked at the doctor's office would be it! Thankfully, I know what the cause of my puffiness was, and the doc was very understanding. This doc, by the way, is the one who delivered Youngest Son. We hadn't seen one another in quite a while - I have been going to a nurse practitioner for my annual exams for several years - so we spent a little time catching up. He is truly one of the greatest doctors of all time. He's such a nice, caring man, and he loves his job, especially the catching babies part. He has a way of making you feel as though he has nowhere else to be but in that room with you, when really, he has an office full of patients to see. He manages to even be on time for his appointments, despite the time he spends with you. He's pretty special. When I lamented my out of shape condition he remarked "Gina, you have an excellent record of keeping yourself in great shape. You'll get back there. This is a tough, transitional time. Don't be so hard on yourself." Wow, what a guy! He got me to agree to get back to exercising regularly and drinking plenty of water after the first of the year. That's doable. So, I'm fine, just going through the things a woman of my age can expect to go through, all the parts are where they belong and operating properly, albeit a little erratically (also normal at my age), so that's always good to hear. He even said I looked very youthful for my 51 years. I told you this guy was good!

Lorraine, I've got your back

2006-12-16T16:05:00.000-08:00

The TiVo is set to record BSG Monday night, 8PM PST. Tuesday morning, I will save it to tape. Lorraine has sent me her address, so I will pop it into the mail Tuesday, and Lorraine should be watching her beloved BSG, albeit in archaic VHS technology, by Wednesday or, at the very latest, Thursday. If I could get it there faster, I would, but FedEx employees are not allowed to use their discounted service during peak season, and the US Mail should be able to get mail from Sandpoint to Seattle overnight, shouldn't they?

Only one thing I don't like....

2006-12-16T11:10:00.000-08:00

I used to have it setup so that when you clicked on one of the links to the left, they opened in a new window - easy to do with HTML tags. I can't for the life of me (yet) figure out how to make that happen in Blogger beta. Anyone with any info, please leave me a comment or email me.

Where's the Thing v.2, Part 2

2006-12-16T10:30:00.000-08:00

YES! Got a comment from Sling who told me that JP had a lorraine update. Long story short, all are well, but still without power, so JP is doing the all-80's, all-request you-know-what video playlist in her stead. But really, JP does such a great job of telling the tale, you must go read his post here. Then, watch the videos.

Oh, and another thing... I finally got my Haloscan comments to work in the new Blogger Beta templates so.... though it may look pretty much the same, I do have a new beta template in place. Also, because you can, I had Blogger Beta sort my blogs of note alphabetically. That meant, of course, because it's a computer and not a person and it doesn't understand that articles like "the" and "a" are not to be considered when you alphabetize stuff, it put The Elective Whisper down below Sling's Domain, which is simply not right. So, to solve the problem, because I do, after all, work in a library, and simply cannot have my alphabetized blog roll alphabetized incorrectly, I numbered each blog according to its proper alphabetical location. The only exception to that is the link to my other blog, because it just has to be at the bottom of the list. So there.

Where's the Thing v.2, Part 1

2006-12-16T06:48:00.000-08:00

So, I'm "borrowing" JP's post title because, well, you know. JP was up at 11 PM his time worrying about Lorraine and her gang. That was 9 PM my time (and Lorraine's time), and I'd already checked half a dozen times for a new post from her. Nada. I went to bed at 10 worrying. I got up at 5:30 and the first thing I did was go online, check my RSS feeds, and saw nothing still. "Okay", I'm thinking, "her power got turned back on in the middle of the night, they were tired, cold, and hungry, so went to bed before it got turned back on, so she hasn't blogged yet 'cuz she doesn't know it's on." Makes sense, right? We all know better. We all know that when the power goes back on, there will be all these lights blazing that they forgot were on, the fridge will kick on with that usually unnoticeable but now loud as a chainsaw hum it makes when the compressor starts running, and all sorts of everyday electrical noises you never pay attention to will come alive, startling them from their restless slumber. And we ALL know that Lorraine will, at the very least, post a short entry on her blog letting us all know she is alive and well, albeit starving because Dominos could not send drivers out into the tree covered streets to deliver pizza to them (see JP's above linked post for this reference). Obviously, the power is still out. I decided to check the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's web site for the latest local news. Here's what I found out:

About 700,000 customers of Puget Sound Energy, the state's largest private utility, were without power early Friday, and about three-fourths of the circuits were down in the company's nine-county service area, spokesman Roger Thompson said. Some people could be without power for as long as three days, said Dorothy Bracken, a Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman. Half of Seattle City Light customers -- about 160,000 in all -- were without power Friday morning, the utility reported. That number had dwindled to about 86,000 by 7 p.m. Friday, though city utility officials estimated it would take 48 hours to restore power to many customers. The number is expected to be cut to 30,000 by midnight tonight.

I am not sure which power company supplies power to Lorraine's neighborhood, but regardless, it doesn't look good. She could be without power for the entire weekend - and then some! I know we're all on pins and needles here, waiting for an update, an email, a blog post, something to let us know everything is back to relative normal for Lorraine. I'll do my part, and I know JP will be checking in as well.

Prelude to Lorraine's All 80's All Request Weekend

2006-12-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

In an effort to get you all warmed up for Lorraine's all request, all 80's weekend, here's a video that will take you from the 50's to today. My sister sent me this link. It's called "Evolution of Dance". I started off smiling, then found myself chuckling out loud as it went on. I'm embedding a YouTube version, but the resolution is not the greatest, so if you want a better resolution version once you've seen the embedded video, click here.

In the meantime, watch this, and smile along with me, get your dancing shoes out, and have a little fun. The guy is talented.

Hit counters

2006-12-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

I'm jealous. I admit it. I have had this blog for two years now. I have had a little over 7,000 hits in that time. It's not bad, but it's not nearly as high as some people. I guess I am just not that interesting a blogger (sniffle, sniffle). I probably wouldn't know that 7,000 hits in two years was a low number if it weren't for that damned Lorraine. I love the woman to death, but really.... 20,000 hits in a year? Yes, she's a funny, talented, beautiful, brilliant woman, but still. Twenty-thousand? And guess who her twenty-thousandth visitor was? You got it. How nice of me to help notch up her hit counter to insurmountable heights. Unbeknownst to her, I am probably responsible for something like a dozen hits a day. Damn that woman. I feel like I did in high school - unpopular nerd on the outside looking in. Sheesh.

Love ya, Lorraine. Congrats on the milestone.

World Wide Words

2006-12-14T12:49:00.000-08:00

After reading Lorraine's post (she seems to inspire me a lot, doesn't she? That's 'cuz she's so smart and witty. I hate her. Not really. I heart her.) - actually, after reading comments left on her post about her Christmas plans - I had to look up the origin of a saying used by Seattle Coffee Girl in her comment. The saying she used was "in like Flynn". Many of you may wonder if it's "in like Flynn", or really "in like Flint" - or maybe you won't wonder at all. I knew I had to find the answer. In my googlequest, I found this really great site. It's called World Wide Words. The subheading says "Michael Quinion writes about international English from a British viewpoint." Sounds right up your alley, charlie! There's a plethora of information, links, and definitions there for those who like words and phrases. I like the sidebar entitled Sic!, which highlights the humorous results of grammar and spelling errors found in a myriad of publications. Here's an example:

“I live in Colorado,” says Monica Hensinger, “where they recently passed an ambitious smoking ban. Signs have popped up everywhere informing people of the ban, but the most entertaining one I have seen was in Boulder, where a city-wide smoking ban has been in effect for several years. It read, ‘No Smoking by Boulder City Ordnance’. I didn’t know the city had its own artillery, but it’s probably a good idea to keep people from smoking around it.”

As one who counts Eats, Shoots, and Leaves among my favorite books of all time, this site is right up my alley. If you are similarly inclined, give it a look.

Oh, and for the answer to the "in like Flynn" question, click this link: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-inl1.htm. I learned something.

Merrappy Chrismukkahzaastice!

2006-12-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

Lorraine started it. I guess I have to add my two cents. I'm sick and tired of all the brouhaha over Christmas vs. (and for you young 'uns, that's VERSUS, not "verse" - but that's a whole 'nother post) every other religion's - or non-religion's - celebration of whatever this time of year represents. Puh-leeze! Okay, so America is now more multicultural than ever, which I guess means we have to be sensitive to all those other cultures when we celebrate holidays that have been celebrated in this country since its inception. We have to try not to offend anyone. Right. Since that is clearly not possible (heck, people get offended all the time - by someone wearing perfume, by someone wearing leather, by someone whose skin is a different color, by someone who doesn't smile at them....you get the picture), those in charge (you know - "they") have decided in a lot of cases to simply not publicly celebrate the season at all. Retailers don't count. They celebrate anything that even remotely smacks of increased sales. But thanks to our desire to be sensitive, many public facilities no longer put up Christmas decorations because they realize they are bound to offend someone. Even if they put up a menorah, don't put up a nativity (I still don't get why it's okay to put up a Jewish religious symbol, but not okay to put up a Christian one, but that's a whole 'nother post too), and refer to Kwanzaa (which has somewhat suspect origins) and the Solstice, they're going to get it from the atheists and humanists, and probably the Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus, so they've started opting for nothing. How pathetic. Why do we feel compelled to throw away our long-held traditions and celebrations simply because the makeup of our society has changed? I doubt Americans or Europeans who live in Asian countries expect them to dismantle their Buddhas or start putting up Christmas trees and nativity scenes; and even if they did, good luck with that. It's not like the U.S. is the only country in the world with a multicultural population. Why are we very nearly the only country in the world who feels compelled to do these things?

Don't get me wrong. I don't think there is anything wrong at all with putting up symbols from any culture in celebration of any holiday. I think everyone should be able to celebrate their holidays with displays in their windows, on their rooftops, whatever, without worrying that someone down the road is going to sue them. I think every business should have that same option. And I even think public agencies, like airports, should be allowed to do likewise, but because they do serve - or perhaps better, represent, people from such diverse cultures, they should try to incorporate as many cultures in their displays as possible, within reason. But if they fail to represent your specific cultural celebration, don't go getting your panties in a twist. You don't visit Saudi Arabia on December 25 and get offended because they don't have nativity scenes or Christmas trees, do you? This is still a predominantly Christian society, with Christians making up over 76% of the population, with secularism coming in second at 13%, Judaism at just over 1%, and all other religions comprising the other 10%. (Taken from ARIS - American Religious Identity Study). Why do the 76% who do celebrate Christmas have to take a back seat to the other 24% who celebrate nothing or a wide array of holidays this time of year? Please, can't we all just get along and tolerate each other?

In the spirit of tolerance, Merrappy Chrismukkahzaastice to all!

This was "our song"

2006-12-12T08:43:00.000-08:00

My first husband used to play his guitar and sing this to me, and he was really good... and this song became "our song".

And now, back to the 70's

2006-12-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

This song was pretty much the theme to my high school days. My first husband looked so much like JT, especially the hair, that it was almost scary. He sang almost as well too. Memories....

YouTube rocks!

2006-12-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

So, I'm sure this will be disabled at some point (copyright protections and all that), but for as long as it's available, here's the video from Oprah with Michael Bublé, Tony Bennett, Josh Groban, and Carrie Underwood singing For Once in My Life. Oh, and watch Michael Buble when Carrie hit's a high note.

I love oldies

2006-12-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

Last year I bought the Rod Stewart CD The Great American Songbook, Vol 2. after listening to a couple of clips from it. I was a big Rod Stewart fan back in the Maggie May days. I continued to be a fan throughout the ensuing decades, but I wasn't too sure about him singing the oldies. He surprised me. What surprised me more was how much I really liked the oldies - and we're not talking 70's, or even 60's here. We're talking 40's and 50's.

I suppose my penchant for watching old movies throughout my youth, and the fact that I grew up with most of the great old music from Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Tony Bennett, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Mel Torme, et al, playing pretty much all the time when we were home, makes me wax nostalgic when I hear songs from that era. There is something that just feels right about listening to I Left My Heart in San Francisco by Tony Bennett, or White Christmas by Bing Crosby. So, on that note:

And now, for something completely different

2006-12-12T07:57:00.001-08:00

I wish I could take what's on my TiVo and put it here. I am watching Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Carrie Underwood, and (be still my beating heart) Josh Groban singing For Once in My Life on Oprah. Call me crazy, or weird, but I love all of them. Tony Bennett is just classically amazing. Michael Bublé is great, as is Carrie Underwood. But Josh Groban is beyond amazing. I fell in love with him after seeing him on Ally McBeal. What a voice! You're Still You is still one of my favorite songs of all time. Listen to him sing opera, and I get goosebumps. I think if someone asked me what one "gift" I would ask for, it would be the ability to sing. Oh, sure, I can sing along to the radio, or my MP3 player, and even can sing along with the congregation in church (probably to the chagrin of those standing nearby), but I could never sing a capella or even if accompanied by an instrument. Back when I was five, my mom told me I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. I believed her then. I believe her still. I think I can carry a tune, but I can't SING, and I would kill for that talent. I think almost everyone who can't sing would. On that note, I wanted to post a video of Josh Groban, but YouTube seems to be down at the moment. Look for an update to this post once YouTube is alive again.

Update: Josh Groban singing You're Still You.

Musical interlude

2006-12-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

Dan, over at Dan's Blah-Blah Blog, has a little blurb on his sidebar entitled "Most Spins Last Week". This week's winner is Al Green's Greatest Hits. Seeing that album cover instantly took me back to high school, junior year. I absolutely loved Al Green. I knew every song by heart. I used to sing Let's Stay Together in my car on the way to school at the top of my lungs. Thankfully, the only persons subjected to my mangling of Al Green's ditty were my siblings, and really, who cared about them? I mean, they were my younger sisters and brother. It was their duty in life to endure being tortured by me. Besides, I am pretty sure we all sang along, and we were all equally horrible, but we thought we were the next Jackson 5, except we were white, and there were only four of us, but what did that matter?

Anyway, since Lorraine pretty much has the 80's locked up, I'm going to do a little posting of 70's music now and then, for those who care, those who remember the amazing music we had in the 70's, and those who want to walk down that lane with me. To begin our set, ladies and gentlemen, I give you - Al Green!

Eeeeaaaaarly Monday Morn

2006-12-11T06:11:00.000-08:00

Today the alarm went off at 4 AM. The Spouse had to be at work at 6:30. Work is an hour away. The Spouse is one of those people who has to be at work early so he can get his mind ready for work. He also wants to have plenty of time "in case".... "in case" he gets a flat (has never happened in 20 years), "in case" their is an accident that closes the highway (has never happened on his way TO work in 20 years), "in case" the car breaks down (has never happened), "in case" the weather is so bad it takes him 90 minutes to go 48 miles (has never happened THAT bad). You know - "in case". So every day, he's at work 30 minutes early. THIRTY MINUTES! I am lucky to be at work 5 minutes after I plan to be there. If I have a meeting, I'm on time, maybe even early (depends on when the meeting is scheduled to start), but never THAT early. Fortunately, I have the luxury of going in whenever I want to. I'm exempt. That means I don't get paid for overtime, but it also means I can come and go as I please, as long as I get my work finished. And even that is subject to interpretation, as there is no such thing as "finished" in my line of work. I don't have the kind of job where I go home with a clean desk, a sigh of satisfaction escaping as I turn off the lights to my office, and a sense of accomplishment. Usually, I go home still mulling over possible solutions to problems with which I am struggling, often awaking in the middle of the night with ideas about how to address them. My desk, my entire office, qualifies as a FEMA disaster area - really. Most of the time, I can find things I need in the mess of my desk. But lately, even that has been difficult. It is really out of conrol, and that is something I do need to get a handle on. I'm thinking the new year will be a great time to do that.

The weekend was pretty good. We got up early - although not as early as The Spouse had hoped - and headed to Coeur d'Alene to start our shopping. The Spouse was due for an eye exam and replacement lenses at the least (it's been two years), so we stopped in at Eyemasters, the place designated by his vision care plan. His frames needed adjusting (he had stepped on them). Surprisingly, they could do his exam in an hour. That meant we could go to Michaels, just across the parking lot, to look at Christmas trees while we waited for his appointment. I found a tree I really liked. In fact, it's the same tree The Daughter has.

We have a tree already. It's at least 12 years old. I'm tired of it. It's too big in diameter and circumference. It's "old technology". It isn't pre-lighted, so I wound lights around each branch, and I leave them on when we put it away, which works pretty well, but it's messy. I have been wanting a new one for a long time. This tree looks so real you have to touch it to see if it is fake. It has neat little pine cones on a lot of the branches. It has about 3400 tips and 800 lights, and best of all, it was on sale for 40% off. We walked over to Target to check out their trees. Not impressed. We went back for his eye exam. The first thing the eye doc told him was the he needs to stop using Clear Eyes or Visine, which is only masking and exacerbating the reasons for his scratchy, itchy, burning eyes. I didn't really realize his eyes bothered him so much. The doc told him to get some Systane eye drops. Well, duh! Those are the eye drops I have been using since my Lasik. I had some with me, so as soon as his exam was over, I had him put some in. He couldn't believe how great they made his eyes feel almost immediately. The doctor told him he has probably the worst kind of prescription you could have, because it leads to eye fatigue, headaches, and exhaustion, especially if one doesn't wear their glasses all the time, like The Spouse. He's farsighted, has as bad an astigmatism as I had pre-Lasik, and has presbyopia. The doc told him he must be a very tolerant individual, since he really only wears his glasses in the evenings, when the low light makes it more difficult to see; that he puts up with poor vision that most people wouldn't accept. I was surprised by how bad his astigmatism is. His prescription is +1.00 +1.75 and +1.50 +1.50. Curiously, his right eye is a little better than it was, while his left is a bit worse. So, new glasses were ordered, and off we headed to the mall in Spokane. No decision was made on the Christmas tree.

The mall parking lot was packed, but oddly, inside the mall it didn't seem all that crowded. We strolled through the mall, window shopping. The Bed & Body Shop caught our attention. The fragrances wafting out into the mall were tantalizing. Inside, the store was packed. It seemed as though all those people from the cars in the lot were in that store. I guess the wide array of items in the shop lend themselves well to stocking stuffers and last-minute gifts. One of the reasons we were there was to pick up small gifts for The Daughter-in-Law's sisters, mother, and sister-in-law, with whom we share Christmas dinner. Still on the list - her father, stepfather, and brother. Every year, her father flies up from California and makes a wonderful prime rib dinner for us all. He bought a cabin in the area a little over a year ago, so we've been buying him things to decorate his cabin. The father-in-law and brother are more difficult, but they're both readers, so a gift card to Barnes & Noble or Borders seems logical.

Lunch at Azteca hit the spot, then on to more shopping. We decided to go ahead with the tree from Michael's, so headed back to Coeur d'Alene. I went in, paid for the tree, and waited to have it brought out. The store was packed, with long lines at all the registers. Finally, the warehouse clerk approached me. Despite the fact that the tree had a pouch with several tickets in it - tickets you take to the register to use for paying and claiming your tree - there was apparently only one tree - the display model. I didn't want the display model. It had burned out lights and was dusty. Frustrated, I got a refund, and the number for the Michael's stores in Spokane. We had to head home to pick the grandkids up by 4:30. I called the Michael's near the mall we had just left. They had at least 5 of the particular tree. I asked her to hold one for me. When I called back yesterday, just to make sure they were holding one for me, the girl told me they actually had 13 of the trees. I remembered I had an appointment in Spokane this morning, not far from Michael's, so told her I'd be there to get it this AM.

We picked the kids up. I helped The Daughter with her outfit for the party - she was having trouble deciding on a top to wear with the adorable skirt she'd just bought - and we headed home, grandkids in tow. By the way, remember those adorable Mary Janes Lorraine bought from Payless back when Edy sent her shoes to wear? Well, The Daughter had the very same Mary Janes! And let me tell you, they are even more adorable, and flattering, in person than on the web page. I want some! Anyway, we asked the kids what they wanted for dinner. Nearly in unison they said "Kid's Cuisine"! Grandson favors the mac and cheese meal, while Granddaughter goes for the Taquito meal. What the heck. Grandparents are supposed to spoil grandkids, right? So, Kid's Cuisine it was, and the candy of their choice for dessert. If you're going to spoil them, why not go all the way?

We pulled the futon mattress off the futon in the spare room and dragged it out into the living room, laid out the kids' sleeping bags, and after dinner, snuggled up to watch the movies they'd brought along - their favorites: A Christmas Story and The Santa Clause. I've never been a huge fan of the former, but I do like the latter a lot. A Christmas Story is cute, but despite it being a favorite of so many, it doesn't hold the same appeal for me as Miracle on 34th Street, or even A Christmas Carol (the original black and white version with Alistair Sim). I love those movies. And let's not forget the classic White Christmas. Anyway, we watched both movies, with Grandson falling asleep in the middle of the last one. Granddaughter talked us into giving her one of her two birthday presents - a Jesse McCartney CD. She was ecstatic. Sunday morning meant playing the CD while we got ready for breakfast out.

Now, here's where things get really cute. I walked into the living room, where Grandson (remember, he's 5) was standing facing the TV. It is a 53" big screen (older, not the new flat panel kind). It was off. Grandson was looking at his reflection. He had on a button down shirt over a t-shirt, and a pair of jeans. He kept standing there, putting his hands in his pockets, and looking down. I realized he was looking at the CD case. It dawned on me that he was trying to look like the photo of Jesse McCartney on the CD. I had to help. Jesse's shirt collar was up, his cuffs were rolled back. So, I upturned his collar, flipped the cuffs back, then told his sister to check out her brother. When I looked back at him, he was standing with his head turned to the side, exactly like the Jesse pose. It was just too cute. He had to go pose for Grandpa too. I had to clue Grandpa in, but he got it pretty quickly. When we got to breakfast with the gang, he had to make sure everyone checked out his attire and got the connection too. Who would figure that a five year-old would care about stuff like that? Too cute.

After breakfast, we went downtown to do some shopping. Unfortunately, nothing was open yet. Nothing opened until 11 (small towns). So, we went back home, did a few chores, and about 3 hours later went back downtown. I knew what was up. The only thing I had mentioned that I even remotely wanted was a new pair of Uggs. I figured we were going to the Uggs store so I could try them on. I was right.

I'm glad I tried them on. I have a pair already - a pair I've had for about 12 years. They're the black Ultimate Tall Uggs. They're great, but they're faded. I wanted a pair of the Ultras, and they felt great on, but didn't realize they don't come in talls. I only want talls. I almost bought another pair of what I already have, but decided I really wanted options. There is nothing wrong with my old pair. So they're a little faded. Big deal. New sheepskin insoles, at just $20, makes them almost as good as new. No, I needed something different. I was very attracted to the Sundance. It's a chestnut color, tall, with exposed sheepskin seams. I don't wear them rolled down, though. Heck, I wear them under my jeans, not with jeans tucked in, so why bother with the exposed seams? I just love the feel, the look, and the color.

So, we bought them. That's my Christmas present from The Spouse. It doesn't matter one bit to me that I have them already, or that I picked them out. I love them! So now, I have options. I could seriously live in Chaco sandals one half of the year and Uggs the other half. Thank you, Spouse!

Now the dilemma is, what to get The Spouse? He's a tough one. I do have it narrowed down to a Shop-Vac, a really nice set of screwdrivers, and candles (he loves candles). Maybe I'll just get them all. Then I'll be finished, with the exception of Youngest Son. He's going to be toughest of all. With his upcoming trip to France, it doesn't make a lot of sense to buy him random Christmas gifts. Everything should be something he'll need for his trip - maybe even just cash. We'll decide once he's home from school next weekend, and we can talk with him about what he wants.

So, weekend is over. Work beckons, once again. The days will only get longer for The Spouse from now until Christmas. Today I will get our new tree. Tonight I will start decorating it and the house. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

Final Frenzied Flurry

2006-12-08T18:27:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to make up for not being able to blog over the weekend, so I'm blogging like a madwoman right now. It's 6:30 PM. I'm at work. I am not working on work stuff, though, just stuff I need to work on. Got that? The Spouse will be home at about 8:15 tonight. We'll have to catch up on episodes of The O.C. and Day Break, then head off to bed so we can get an early start tomorrow.

Next week is Youngest Son's finals week. He's inundated with last minute homework, studying, the usual pre-finals frenzy.

I have two weeks to complete a project at work that I've been working on for over a year. I'm not sure what will happen to me if I don't meet the deadline. I should be scared, but I'm pretty good with deadlines. Except today, AT&T/Conexant had a big backbone failure, so we couldn't get to 3M. Since I have to connect to a server there while working on this project, I couldn't make any progress on it at all today. The outage affected Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Just my luck. Gave me time to finish my bonus application, though. (Gotta find that silver lining).

Okay, I have stuff to work on.

Birthdays and Christmas Shopping

2006-12-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

Sunday is The Granddaughter's 8th birthday. She will have a party with her friends on Friday night. They will spend the night at a local motel that is run by the company for which her paternal grandmother works. It has an indoor pool. They get a deal. The little girls will all be silly, swim in the pool, and stay up half the night watching movies, putting on makeup, and doing all sorts of little girl things.

Saturday, The Spouse and I will get up very early, drive to Coeur d'Alene to go to Costco, and just walk up and down every single aisle - not because we need anything, but because last weekend when we were there, we had 45 minutes to buy what we needed before they closed, and didn't get to just browse. So, we're going to just browse. Then we're heading to Spokane to the Spokane Valley Mall, again, just to browse and shop. We don't need anything, but may pick up some stocking stuffers or last minute things for friends and coworkers. We just want to people watch, window shop, take in the holiday atmosphere, and enjoy the last weekend before things get really crazy at work for him.

Saturday evening, we will pick up The Granddaughter and Grandson so that Daughter and Son-in-Law can go to his company Christmas party. The grandkids will stay the night with us. Early Sunday morning, their parents will come get them all dressed nicely, and we will all head out for a Birthday Breakfast, which will also be attended by the paternal grandfather and his wife. Then, The Spouse and I will go back home and decorate the house. Well, The Spouse and I will head back home, and I will decorate the house. I'm not sure what he'll be doing.

I will say this much for Blogger beta...

2006-12-08T17:52:00.000-08:00

Posts publish MUCH faster. Used to be, I'd hit "publish" and wait, and wait, and wait for the post to publish (you know, that little screen that showed you the continually updating % complete). Now, hit the button, and "Presto! Change-o!" the post is published. So, that's a good thing.

I did find a link in a Haloscan forum that showed how to use the new Blogger widget template and still have your Haloscan comments work. I'll probably give that a try next week. This weekend is going to be another busy - but in a good way - weekend. No blogging for me until Monday.

Bonus application

2006-12-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

Last year, for the first time ever, we got a bonus at work. The bonuses are funded out of the pool of money left over after all our health insurance claims are paid (we are self-insured, sort of - it's complicated). Last year we had about $8,000 to share amongst about 40 staff members. This year it's almost double that. 1/3 of the fund is shared equally by everyone, just for being an employee. 1/3 is divided based upon hours worked, meaning if you took a lot of sick leave, you should get less than someone who took very few sick days. Last year, taking vacation time counted against us, which I lobbied furiously against since that actually docked long-term employees who had earned multiple weeks of vacation (we have to take it or lose it). This year, I managed to convince the boss that only sick leave, which is usually unscheduled leave, and which has a huge impact on staffing, should count against us. The last 1/3 is divided based upon merit - and each employee has to "make his/her case" for this part of the bonus. We have to fill out an application listing any continuing education, workshops or conferences we have attended, committees on which we've served, things we've done over and above our job description, and things we've done to make the workplace more efficient, saved money, etc. We have to list the number of team meetings we've attended, the number of "kudos" we've received from staff or patrons (we have a form for them), and basically blow our own horns to try to justify the biggest bonus possible. That application is due today. Do you think I've had time to work on it given my insane workload? Three guesses what I'll be working on this morning.

UPDATE: Turns out, I was NOT successful in convincing the boss to count only used sick leave against our attendance after all. All time off, whether holiday time, sick leave taken, or vacation taken, or even comp time taken, is counted against the total possible hours for the year of 2,088. But, extra time worked IS added to the total, which is nice. Too bad I didn't start tracking my extra time until June 26! In just 5 months, I worked 165 hours of extra time. I worked at least that many hours between 12/1/05 and 6/25/06, but wasn't tracking them because it never mattered before. Just my luck.