Show me the money!

I have a bad habit of not blogging. It's been 15 days! I even took photos of my flowers to post but haven't had time. I guess that's a good thing - being busy. I have some good news though! I had to go to the Board meeting last Monday because we were asking them to FINALLY approve the purchase of 3M's PAMS - Patron Access Management System - an internet management program. We've been "reviewing" it for almost two years now. The Board appropriated the funds last summer but had not gotten around to actually giving me the go-ahead to order and implement the system, continually posing questions and asking for more info. I prepared a paper addressing every question they had, every concern the staff had, showing the hardware that would be used (smart card readers), and basically giving them a very persuasive sales pitch. I had to be in attendance in case they had still more questions. That meant I had to sit through all the boring rote stuff - approval of minutes, budget reports, committee reports, etc. Just before my project was to be discussed, discussion ensued about a change to our salary scale. The personnel committee and the supervisory team had recommended a change. The current scale provides for a 4% step increase every year through the fifth year. From that point forward until the 12th year, the step increases are given every OTHER year, so year 6, 8, and 10 do not get raises. Starting the 12th year, the raises are only given every three years. It was finally recognized that this system totally devalues those who have been with the library the longest and it was recommended that the step increases be given every year for everyone. That I knew about. What I didn't know was that the Director and one of the Board members had decided that doing away with the "gap" years should be made retroactive to the beginning of this fiscal year - October 1, 2004. Anyone who was not scheduled for a step increase on their anniversary date from 10/1 to now would, in fact, receive one - and it would be retroactive! Well, I am one of those who did not receive a raise on my anniversary date of 10/1 so that means I get a lump sum payout of 4% of my earnings from 10/1 to 5/31, and I am now being paid at the higher rate. AND...on 10/1/2005 I get ANOTHER 4% raise! So, by 10/1 I will be making $300 more a month than I was making just last month! Awesome! I had no idea the Board was pondering this so was thrilled when they approved the policy change. Immediately afterward, they spent about 30 seconds on PAMS - and approved that too! It was a great night for me!!!

Now... I am sitting here with sutures in my mouth following gum graft surgery wherein they took tissue from both sides of my palate and inserted it between the gum and bone on both sides of my lower jaw. Needless to say, I am in pain. I can only eat cold stuff like popsicles, ice, ice water, iced tea, ice cream...for the next 48 hours. Then I can only eat soft stuff like pasta and soup for the next two weeks. Maybe I'll lose weight? Well, not if I'm eating ice cream I suppose, but it hurts so much I don't feel like eating much of anything really, even ice cream. It hurts a lot more than I thought it would. I did get a prescription for Vicodin, but I'm not big on pain meds and would prefer to get by with just the 800mg of Motrin every 6 hours. We'll see. For now, I see myself doing a lot of reading and movie watching. I was watching "A River Runs Through It" during the surgery and didn't get to see the end. I've never seen the whole movie, so maybe I'll go rent it, or check it out from the library.

Oh, Tom and I had our 24th anniversary yesterday! Yay! We're going to celebrate on July 8 at the Hotel Lusso in Spokane. I have a free night's stay coming to me courtesy of a coworker for whom I did some computer work. It's quite a luxury hotel, so we're going to do shopping, dinner, and a movie and spend a romantic night in luxury! Should be fun!

Time to get dinner started.

Holidaze

Wow, the holiday weekend went by quickly! We had the best weather ever for the weekend! Well, it was at least the best we've had in a few years. Temps were in the 80's and 90's and the sky was crystal clear.
On Saturday, Tom and I went to Home Depot and bought three 20" pots for the patio. They look like they're terra cotta, but they're actually styrofoam. Amazing! We bought a few flowers as well, though we were not impressed with the condition of most of the plants. They were not being well cared for. After our Home Depot purchase, we headed to this nursery in town we like - Arcadia Greenhouse. They have a big greenhouse facility out in the boonies but they open a satellite operation in town with dozens of flats of flowers of all varieties. When we got there, they were swamped. Every time we walked down one of the aisles between the rows of flowers we had to stop and stand sideways so someone could walk past us. I felt like we were driving a Suburban on a road in an Italian village. Not that I've ever been in an Italian village, but I've seen movies and heard stories about how narrow the streets are and how crazy the Italians drive, so that's my metaphor! Anyway, it was crazy. We squeezed in where we could, picking out pony packs of pansies, petunias, dianthus, nemesia, bacopa, and stock and putting them into little nursery trays. Before we knew it, we had 4 trays of flowers for a grand total of $57. After we checked out, I overheard a woman saying that all the small black pony packs - pots equal to 4 cell pack plants in size - were 2 for $1. That was just an amazing price, so.... we hurried home with the plants we had, and then I went back and bought another $36 worth of flowers! I bought everything I could think of - vinca, geraniums, violas, phlox, more petunias, more pansies... at that price, I wanted to buy everything they had. I made myself stop at 72 plants. We had our work cut out for us. Later that day our oldest son and his family came to visit. We all went down to Sandpoint City Beach for a while so the kids could play in the water. Tommy and his family spent the night at our house and we all made plans to get together with Shana & Ryan the following day for a barbecue and to celebrate Shana's birthday (May 31).

Sunday was every bit as beautiful as Saturday. We again spent the day at the beach. The "boys" (Tom, Tommy, and Ryan), and granddaughter Sydney played a few games of "horse" - two out of three of which Tom won. Not bad for an old fart. After we got bored with the beach, we went to Shana & Ryan's and barbecued tri-tip and had birthday cake. We played dominos until later that night and then headed back to our house. Tommy and his family left Monday morning and Shana & Ryan trekked to Spokane to do some shopping.

Sunday morning I ran over to Home Depot again to get some more African Daisies. Sadly, they were sold out. I went over to WalMart to check out their flowers, but nothing struck my fancy. By the time I got home, Tom had filled the large pots with potting soil and one was waiting for me to fill with flowers. I set to the task with great enthusiasm. I love mixing the colors and leaf textures to make an aesthetically pleasing arrangement. Tom insists on a dracaena in the middle of the pot each year - something I'm not overly fond of, but I relent - so that went in first. On one side of the dracaena is a Martha Washington geranium. On the other is a gorgeous African Daisy in the darkest, most beautiful magenta you can imagine. The rest of the pot is filled with a mix of yellow snapdragons, white dianthus, pink, magenta, and white Sweet Williams, white and lavendar bacopa, lavendar petunias, lavendar nemesia, purple and yellow viola, some ivy, some vinca, and lots of lobelia. Oh, and some pink phlox is thrown in as filler throughout. They will be beautiful once they start filling in. So, we have three pots like that on the patio. We also planted about 7 other smaller pots with things like red and pink zonal geraniums, purple and lavendar petunias, butterscotch colored African Daisies, and other miscellaneous flowers. Once things begin to grow a bit I'll post photos. After all this planting, which took most of the day, I still have about 36 flowers to plant! Unfortunately, it's raining, has been raining, and is supposed to continue to rain for the next few days. I guess the rest of my pots will have to wait.

But it was a glorious holiday weekend!

Dual homed

Now you know how much of a geek I really am. The title is a computer term meaning a computer has two network cards in it - like a server that has a network card for accessing and being accessed by the external network (internet) and one for the internal network (LAN). In this case I'm referring to the fact that I have set up a blog at MySpaces. My goal is to blog in both places each day rather than abandon this space. I like the features the MSN Spaces offer but Blogger is my original home, so I'll maintain both - mostly just copying from one to the other rather than putting anything brilliant and original on one and not the other. In case you want to visit my MSN Space, here's the link: http://spaces.msn.com/members/eclecticdefined/.

So... check it out. I'll add more photos and stuff to the MSN space, so keep checking it out.

Life is like a box of chocolates

I love Forrest Gump, both the character and the movie. I think I should watch that this weekend. I'm in the mood for that sort of movie.

It is brilliantly sunny and gorgeous outside right now. I think the entire West Coast is enjoying this same sort of weather. I think it's supposed to be in the 80's today. Brilliant!!! I will most definitely take at least a 2 mile, and maybe a 4 mile, walk at lunch today. I had planned to do that yesterday but we had a major software upgrade Tuesday night/Wednesday AM which required that I physically upgrade every computer in the library except the 22 public access computers and the 12 online catalogs. That meant I had to upgrade about 60 computers. It took all day, meaning I had no lunch break. Along with the upgrade came countless questions from the staff about the various enhancements they were seeing on their screens. And, as with almost any upgrade, there are a few bugs still to be worked out. So, I would be in the midst of an upgrade on a computer upstairs and I would get paged to go to the circulation desk downstairs to answer some question. I was all over the building all day long. It was crazy. But it's all done now so I just have to sit back and wait for the bugs to be fixed by TLC. There are some great new features that I to read up on so I can train staff. There are some features in our online catalog that I have to become familiar with as well so I can implement them. I have a lot of learning to do in the next few days.

This weekend should be great. I'm going to plant my flower pots and try to just relax, especially since it's a rare 3-day weekend for Tom and me. Saturday it's supposed to rain, but the rest of the weekend should be nice. I'm ready for some relaxation.

I bit down on this really great bread with a thick, chewy crust - an Italian bread - the other night and my jaw made an awful popping/crunching sound. Ever since, I can't put my back teeth together and my jaw hurts something fierce. I have TMJ anyway, but it's been pretty mild for a long time. Now, it's back with a vengeance and it's giving me a bad headache. I'm hoping it just subsides as the swelling goes down (I'm assuming there's swelling). It's so weird. The noise was something else! You'd have thought I'd broken a piece of my jaw joint off!

Speaking of jaws and stuff, I go in on June 16th for two gum grafts. That ought to be fun. The only positive thing I see about the experience is I should be able to eat only yogurt and popsicles for several days which should result in a loss of weight. I hope. I understand the roof of your mouth feels like it's been burned for quite a while afterward. That sounds like SO much fun - NOT!

I have a confession to make. I watch American Idol. I am SO happy Carrie Underwood won. I think she has an amazing voice, is a really sweet country girl, is gorgeous, and I think she will have the best career of any Idol yet. Go Carrie!

I have three season finales yet to watch on TiVo - House, Lost, and CSI Miami. After that, no more TV shows to watch so I can go to the gym in the AM! Yippee! I'm pathetic and I watch way too much TV. Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, 24, CSI: Miami, Amazing Race, House, American Idol, CSI: NY, Lost, CSI, Survivor, The OC, Without a Trace, Joan of Arcadia (cancelled - sniff, sniff), and Numb3rs. That's so crazy. But they are all such good shows! That's 15 hours of TV a week! Oh my gosh! I need to get a life. Okay, some, like Survivor, Amazing Race, and American Idol are not on all season long and 24 starts late in the season, so most of the time I'm only watching 11 hours a week, but still........

Okay, time for work.

Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith

Okay, I saw it - yesterday at 12:20PM at the Northtown Regal Cinemas in Spokane. It was good - far better than the previous two - but nothing like the first three. Of course, that is due, in large part, to the content. We all know this is the story of Anakin's conversion to Darth Vader - an inherently unhappy tale. We know it's dark - that's been all over the media as if to warn us "this is not going to be all laughs and chuckles... evil wins". They're right. It's dark.

So, my review - it is good, but it does have its shortcomings. Inevitably, it will be compared to the original trilogy. Heck, I find myself doing that all the time. The original was amazing, groundbreaking on so many levels, and just plain good fun. It had a great ensemble cast with fabulous chemistry. Okay, maybe they weren't the BEST actors, but they played off of each so well - something the latest trilogy sorely lacks. The original had catchy one-liners sprinkled liberally throughout all three films that found their way into common usage for years after they debuted (or was is just me who ran around saying "May the Force be with you"?) This is also lacking in the current trilogy. But I think the real root of the "problem" with the current trilogy is the tale it tells. It can't help but be bashed because it is all about evil triumphing over good and, as a people, we are never thrilled with that type of story. We like happy endings, the guy getting the girl, all that stuff. The original trilogy is all about good triumphing over evil, and the heroes of the epic struggle, hence it reverberates in the hearts and minds of us all. We get to cheer the good guys and boo the bad guys - an opportunity we don't get in the current trilogy.

I left the theater feeling a bit ambivalent. Okay, so now I know how Anakin became Darth. I know how Luke and Leia came to be separated and why they ended up on their respective planets, how and why Obi-Wan came to be on Tatooine, and why C3PO, despite having been Padme's protocol droid, didn't have a clue who anyone was when he "met" Luke and Leia. I also got to see Chewie in his native land with all his Wookie warriors (very cool)... but I didn't get to cheer anyone for their triumph over adversity and evil. The story was sad. So many times there is the chance for Anakin to go the other way, away from the Dark Side, and I found myself saying "no, Anakin, no!" knowing, of course, the path he would take. It's hard to accept a character turning from good to evil and not ending up dead or repentant. Episode VI, where Darth does finally repent in a way, is too far removed from Episode III, so you just have this nice young, but immature and selfish, boy turn into an evil monster who gets to live and wreak havoc on the world. It's just a very sad story.

As for acting, it really wasn't very good. Hayden Christensen is pretty awful. He just wears that brooding scowl throughout most of the movie to show his displeasure, dismay, anger, and regret. One face for every emotion. You get no sense of chemistry between him and Natalie Portman, and sadder yet, none between him and Ewan McGregor. There was a definite chemistry between Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, between Ford and Carrie Fisher, Fisher and Hamill, and Hamill and Alec Guiness. There was great chemistry between Han and Chewie. You knew they all cared about each other, would do anything for each other, to save each other. You get no sense of that connection between Obi-Wan and Anakin, or among any of the Jedi, for that matter. Probably more than any other aspect of the movie, I miss that and fault that for the poor reviews.

Go see it for yourself. You need to finish the story. But be prepared to be sad.

The first three movies (IV, V, VI) were a complete product in and of themselves. I, II, & III are meaningless without IV, V, & VI. There is no reason for them to exist except as prelude. I am not sure I like that aspect of the trilogy. But hey, who am I to second guess George Lucas. The guy is a creative genius who brought us the original Star Wars and changed the world of filmmaking in the process.

DA DA DA, DA-DA-DA, DA-DA-DA!

Okay, so I can't carry a tune in a bucket... that's the beginning of Darth Vader's theme... see? So.... tomorrow, May 19, 2005, two great things happen:

1. Jonathan turns 19. Yay! His car insurance rates go down next month!
2. He and I get to go see Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith!!!!!!!

I'm taking the day off work, as is Jonathan, and we're going to the 12:20 showing at Northtown Regal Cinemas in Spokane. It's our tradition. We've gone to opening day of all them since he's been alive (the last two) as well as to opening day of all the Lord of the Rings movies. The only thing missing this year is his best friend from high school, JW. JW is spending his summer interning at Mercruiser in Georgia (he goes to Georgia Tech) so he won't be accompanying us as he has every other time. Bummer. After the movie, we're going to Peking North for the best Chinese food in Spokane. Can't wait!!!

If my people, which are called by my name....

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

It seems God was trying to teach Tom a lesson in humility with the recent job problem. On D-Day - the last chance he had to file his grievance/appeal - he met with his boss to go over, in detail, the concerns she had that prompted her to write the letter of reprimand. I had just heard a great show on the local Calvary Satellite Network station by Chip Ingram wherein he discussed how, when there is a conflict, all of us usually believe we are right and the other person is wrong. He referred to Proverbs 21:2 - "All a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart" and went on to explain that if we really want to resolve conflict, we have to stop wanting to be right and look for the real problem, look behind the words and weigh the heart. It really struck me that this was a message I had to share with Tom. He needed to stop trying to prove he had done nothing wrong and figure out what the real problem was. I called and told him what I'd heard and then prayed all day that God would reveal the real issue to both Tom and his boss. Tom prayed all day too. I told Tom I felt a big part of the problem is that his boss really needs to be liked. He has expressed to me on several occasions that he didn't think she liked him and he didn't particularly like her. I told him he needed to be nice to her and to try to like her, otherwise she would most likely say to herself about him "you don't like me, fine! I don't like you either. The hell with you!" and that could have grave consequences.

So... with all that in mind, he met with her at the end of his day yesterday. I sat on pins and needles - sort of, but not really because I was totally trusting God in this matter - and waited for his call. He called me an hour later. She was going to rescind the letter! He had admitted that he could have done a better job of documenting the things that had delayed him during some of the times in question. She realized he was not taking too long to get to his break. He apologized to her over and over for putting her in the position of even having to write him the letter. Then he said to me "I guess she really does like me and she had a horrible weekend after she gave me the letter because she felt so awful about it." That was huge because he was convinced she did not like him and was out to get him. I know he was humbled and I know that he came to realize over the past week that he has unrealistic and unattainable expectations of people around him (especially me and Jonathan). I see a real difference in him. I just hope it sticks. This is definitely one of those times you could say "what the enemy meant for evil, God turned to good". Though it was stressful and emotional, a lot of good came out of this experience. I know I learned, yet again, to trust God with everything. I kind of have a habit of thinking I need to take back the reins now and then and God usually whaps me upside the head to remind me HE is in control. Too bad I keep forgetting that.

It is POURING outside right now. Absolutely pouring.

Hmmmmm....

Well, last Friday was a mixed bag. Tom and I got into a kind of big fight that weighed heavily on me all day. Fortunately, it got resolved - sort of. More on that later. On a more positive note, I got Jonathan all packed up and moved back home for the summer. I got to see the Harrisons - always a joy for me - although we were all so busy packing the boys up, loading our vehicles, and cleaning their room that we barely got time to enjoy each other. Oddly, I got kind of misty saying goodbye to Nathan, though I'm sure he didn't notice - or care. I sort of look on him as family I guess. After all, he was Jonathan's first roommate, which is a pretty memorable thing, and I liked him from the first email he sent Jonathan. I'll most likely always follow Nathan's blogs, especially as he spends next semester in the British Isles. He really is a wonderful young man and I love his writing style. I'm glad he was Jonathan's roommate, especially because I got to know his family as a result, and JoAnn is one of the best people I know. There is something about her.... I suspect we'd be great pals if we lived near one another. So, moving out was bittersweet for both myself and Jonathan. He already misses dorm life, although he is glad to be home. I'm happy to have him home, but it is another person to cook for, do laundry for, argue with... it should be an interesting summer.

Jonathan talked to his boss from the golf course on Saturday. He starts full time this Wednesday except he will be off Thursday the 19th, his 19th birthday and the opening day for Star Wars Episode III! Then he starts right up on his 5AM to 2PM work schedule for the summer. Thank goodness as he needs the money.

Now, about last Friday - Tom got called into his boss' office where she gave him a letter of reprimand after saying her gut told her to fire him!!! He was stunned. This is a man who has gotten nothing but 6.9 and 7.0 out of 7 on every performance review for the past 18 years, performs at over 100% of goal on a daily basis, and is one of the best couriers in the entire company! Her reason? She "claims" he is improperly coding his timecard" and that there are "inappropriate time gaps" between his last stop and his break. You see, FedEx has a policy that you must take your break within 5 minutes or 5 miles of your last stop. The last stop shown for his day is a pickup he makes at about 2:30 every day. From there, he has to drop off his outbound freight at a designated location so that another driver can take it down to the station in time to make the plane. That stop does not show up on the time card because management requested about 18 months ago that the couriers stop coding that stop and just do it, but don't enter it. From the dropoff point he drives 4.6 miles to his break, which takes 10-15 minutes. In actuality, 4 miles of that distance is actually the route he has to drive to return to the station, so technically, he is only driving .6 miles to his break location (the gym) and spending about 3 minutes doing so. The manager knows where he goes on his break, has always known, he's been doing it for 6 years, and has even been dropped off there by past managers during check rides. Why is it suddenly a problem? And how is anything he's doing "improper coding" of his timecard or taking inappropriate time gaps? He was stunned. He called the personnel rep and talked at length with him. He seemed to indicate the warning letter was totally unfounded and planned to discuss it further with his manager. I just talked to him on the phone and he is supposed to meet with his manager again tonight. Now I'll be on pins and needles waiting to hear what transpired. The thing that got him, though, was that he was basically being accused of being dishonest, lying and cheating, which is the very last thing he would ever do. Tom is one of those people you PRAY you hire. He is so honest it's hard to believe. He NEVER sandbags at work, and he has an incredible work ethic. He busts his butt to do everything he can to get the job done, even when it appears to be impossible. To be disrespected this way is just beyond comprehension. The sliver lining is, it "cured" our fight.

Time to go grocery shopping.

Unlucky day?

I just realized today is Friday the 13th. Now, I'm not superstitious but.... Tom is mad at me and that is pretty unlucky. I hope that is not a predictor of how the rest of the day will go. I'll just have to try to stay positive and pray a lot.

Today's the day

I will be heading to Spokane to move Jonathan back home in about 3 hours. Before I leave, I will meet an appraiser at my house for a quick appraisal. We're refinancing our mortgage - both first and second - for the first time ever. We've had a pretty good first mortgage for the past 20 years. It is an adjustable rate, but it had a great cap on the annual adjustments and, with the exception of a year or two early on, when interest rates were insanely high for everyone (back in the era of 11 and 12 percent mortgages), the interest rate has been lower than the going rate for the year. It was as low as 3.2% for the past two years! Alas, rates are edging up again. This year the rate went to 5.32%. Given today's prime rate, I am convinced it will be between 6 and 8% next year. My second mortgage is at 7.65% fixed with a home equity line of credit attached to it that is already over 7%, is adjustable monthly, and is surely going nowhere but up. So, time to refinance. I visited my bank, the holder of both the first and second, to discuss a new second. My banker suggested we do a new first instead. I was a bit reluctant to refinance the first - we have 11 years left on it - but he said "let's apply and see if we can get an interest rate somewhere between where the first and second are now", so I agreed.

Part of the reason I wanted a new loan was to pay off our credit cards which have, to my chagrin, gotten way out of control thanks to college expenses and the fact that I have lost about $10,000 a year in income over the past two years. I used to work one day a week for Litehouse Custom Printing as their network admin, but I got the network working so well, there's nothing for me to do on a weekly basis, so now I just work ad hoc, resulting in a huge income deficit. I was horrified when I added up the balances on my credit cards and discovered we are the average US household. Ugh.

So, I went through the slick online app in my banker's office and after just about 15 minutes, this screen came up saying "Congratulations! You have been approved for a mortgage for x amount of dollars at 5.75% fixed!" WOW!!!! I was so so so so so happy! I yelled out "thank you Lord!" and told my banker I wanted to kiss him! My second had 13 years on it and this new loan is for 15 years, so big whoop - it will take us two years longer to pay it off. We'll actually pay much less interest than had we maintained the status quo AND... my credit cards will be paid off! I am going to cut them up and never carry a balance ever again. This new loan will actually put about $8000 cash in the bank, will cost me $100 a month less than the existing first and second mortgage payments combined, and free me up from almost $1000 a month that I was paying on credit cards and the line of credit. Of that $1000, I should be able to put at least $500 a month in savings, maybe more. When I went through two months worth of bank statements to find out where my money goes, I realized we spend a fair amount on eating out and "miscellaneous" stuff we could easily do without, not to mention $1000 a month on food and sundries - for two people! That's crazy. I buy a lot of steaks and convenience foods nowadays, in other words, expensive stuff. Time to change that!

This new loan is like getting a clean start. As a result, I am going to really look at our spending habits and make some serious changes. I don't want to have to keep getting PLUS loans to pay for Jonathan's tuition so I'm going to try really hard to put away enough each month to cover at least half his tuition. After grants, scholarships, and student loans, we are usually left paying half the total cost of his tuition, room, and board. This year that amount was $14,000. Tuition, room and board are all going up next year - about $2300 - so we'll be looking at over $15,000. I don't see how we could possibly pay it all from our current resources, but we should be able to cover almost half that. It will be a lot better to borrow only $7000 a year from the feds than twice that. So... my loan interest rate hinges on the results of the appraisal. If it comes in where I think it will, we're all good. If it comes in much lower, the rate could go up a couple of tenths. I know the appraiser pretty well, so I'm hoping he appraises on the high side and gives me some idea of where he thinks it will end up before he leaves today. Once he is finished, I'm heading to Spokane in the Suburban to pack Jonathan up and move him and his junk back home. Yippeee!

Drama at work

Wow, one of my favorite coworkers narrowly escaped serious injury or even death yesterday! Her husband was driving her to work when a car crossed the center line and slammed into them head-on! Apparently, the guy in the oncoming car either suffered a heart attack or lost consciousness due to some problems with his medication; the details have not been made available yet. Fortunately, he was driving a Subaru Legacy and the car my coworker was in was a Subaru Forester so the cars were pretty evenly matched. All occupants had their seatbelts on and Rosemary's husband saw the car coming toward them, so he was braking rather than going 45MPH (the speed limit where the accident occurred). Her husband's tibia was broken and he has severe soft tissue bruising and swelling in both knees from the air bags. She has a black eye and soft tissue bruising from the air bags as well, and a cut that required stitches on her left index finger, but they're both okay. Their car is a total loss. The dash was pushed right up into them and they had to be cut from the car, but they are both going to be okay, thank God! The man who hit them is in serious condition and was heart flighted to the hospital in Coeur d'Alene. He was 79 and not in the best of health. His wife usually drives him around so everyone is curious why he was driving. I'm sure we'll learn more in the next few days as he is the mayor of a small community just 8 miles to the east of Sandpoint. The story made page 3 in the local paper (link).

I just adore Rosemary. She's a fellow Italian and we generally take our lunch breaks together and talk about growing up Italian. I'm going to miss her while she recuperates over the next two weeks, but I'm so glad she's okay. The spot where the accident occurred has been the site of a couple of fatal head-on collisions in the past, so she's really fortunate to have escaped with mostly bruises and bumps.

No one is reading this so....

I should just stop posting. I guess the masochist in me - or the eternal optimist - keeps posting "just in case" I do have a fan or two. I wouldn't blame people for not reading when I've gone weeks without updating. Not much worse, or more boring, than an un-updated blog. I should adopt the approach of Nilt, and write whatever random thoughts, no matter how nonsensical, enter my overworked little mind. At least it could provide a laugh to anyone who stumbled across this blog. I'll give that idea more consideration.

On a completely random note, I watched the finale of The Amazing Race this morning (thank you, TiVo!) Though I'm sure most people were rooting against Rob and Amber, I was rooting for them. I was bummed they didn't win, but Joyce and Uchenna are an awesome couple, they love the Lord, and they really ran the race well. They totally deserved to win, which Rob and Amber acknowledged. Most people thought Rob was underhanded and devious and didn't play the game fairly, but as he stated several times during the race, it is a race. It is a race for a million dollars! You do what you have to do, without cheating, to try to come in first. At some point in all the past races, the winners have done underhanded things to try to get an edge on the competition. I am sure the producers showed all the conniving things Rob and Amber pulled to play up that aspect of the race and of Rob's personality as we came to know it from Survivor. They probably didn't show the dirty tricks pulled by the other teams to make Rob and Amber look worse by comparison. Anyone who thinks otherwise is very naive.

Interestingly, at least to me, is how "wholesome" all the teams seemed this season. Sure, Ron and Kelly fought with each other like children, but overall, the competitors had good relationships with their partners and engaged in very few arguments. Maybe that was intentional after last season's horrible pairing known as Jonathan and Victoria. Ugh. That guy needs help! He claimed, on Dr. Phil's interview with him, that he was portrayed badly and that they actually get along swimmingly. Yeah, right. Any guy who will call his wife the awful names he called her, humiliate and ridicule her the way he did, blame her for everything that went wrong like he did, and then, shove her roughly like he did, needs some serious counseling. She needs to figure out why she stays with a guy who treats her that way! It was upsetting to watch. So, maybe to counter that season, they only showed teammates getting along, encouraging and supporting one another for the most part - or maybe they all really did get along that well. Let's hope it's the latter.

Okay, that's enough randomness for now...

Now, this is more like it

It's raining. It's been raining for days now. We've had to squeeze lawn mowing in between rainstorms, which translates into very long, very wet grass that has to be bagged instead of mulched. Ugh. Bagging makes the 3 hour job more like a 4 hour ordeal. It also usually means the lawn doesn't look so hot and has to be recut just to even up all those strands of grass that refuse to stand up and be whacked the first time around. On the up side, the lawn is incredibly green and lush, the flowers are growing like mad, and we don't have to wash the cars - my least favorite chore in the world.

Rain in May is normal for this part of the country. After an abnormally dry and hot April, the rain is welcome and much needed. It's been mostly raining at night and just sprinkling off and on during the day - about the best way for rain to happen. It does make for dark skies throughout the day, but when you're stuck inside working, that's not so bad. As long as it's sunny on the weekend.... which is rarely the case, of course, so why even hope for that? I can dream, can't I?

Friday I go to Whitworth to move Jonathan back home for the summer. As sad as it was having him gone in the fall, it's going to be so weird having him back home. Last September I couldn't go an hour without crying because I missed him so much. And contrary to what I thought back then, I did get used to him not living here eventually - about a month or so ago - just in time for him to move back home. Mind you, I wouldn't have it any other way, but it will be different to have to make dinner for him again, to have his hulking figure stretched out on the couch watching TV with us, and to have him eat us out of house and home again. On the other hand, it does mean I will have some help unloading the dishwasher and mowing the lawn again for a while. And about the time I get used to having him home, he'll be off to college again and I'll cry buckets for weeks and weeks. Weird.

Jonathan's college roommate won't be his roommate next year and that makes me sad. Nathan is going off to study in the British Isles in August and won't return to Whitworth until Jan Term. That's so awesome for Nathan, but so not awesome for Jonathan. Though they didn't exactly hang out this year, they coexisted quite peacefully as roommates. They never really fought about anything, they played a lot of World of Warcraft together, and they actually did some stuff together. I think, if they had remained roommates, they might have started doing more and more together eventually. But maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part. Nathan has been a great, calming influence on Jonathan, who has a tendency toward impulsivity at times. I think they were very compatible roommates.

Next year Jonathan will live in the basement in a huge room with two other guys. One is a pretty stable guy who goes to bed early and gets up early. The other has been Jonathan's partner in crime during most of his "escapades" this year - they are both bad influences on each other - so I'm a bit concerned about them actually living together. On the other hand, they spent all their free time in Steve's room so maybe it won't be so different. Having Nathan and his calming influence as a roommate didn't stop Jonathan from shaving his head last week on an impulse. Yeah, shaved his head! Happy Mother's Day, Mom! He looks like a cancer patient. He's always wanted to "Bic" his head, but we've managed to talk him out of it in the past. After his pal and future roommate, Steve, dumped crushed up Kix in his hair, he decided it was the perfect excuse to shave it off as opposed to just washing it. He has way too big and round a head... it does not look good. Thankfully, it grows quickly, so in a month he should look like he does most summers. That sort of impulsivity is what worries me about next year's living arrangements, though. I'm hoping both Steve and Jonathan learned their lessons when they got in trouble earlier this semester for their pranks and breaking of the rules, and will have matured a bit more by next fall. I can hope, can't I? Steve does, at least, seem to study hard and do well in his classes, so that's a plus.

Well, today is staff meeting day and I have to make a presentation for which I'm unprepared because I forgot we had this special meeting scheduled. I have to go in early to prepare for the meeting so I have to get into the shower NOW. I also am the notetaker at the meetings. After years of very poorly written notes from the meetings taken by hand by one of our staffers, I volunteered to take notes on the laptop, typing what everyone says as close to verbatim as I can. I've been doing this for the past three months or so and the staff is thrilled. I email the notes to everyone within a day. They used to have to go to the staff bulletin board and read a xeroxed copy of the handwritten notes, which were usually 1-2 pages in length. They now get the notes in their email and they are generally 6-8 pages in length - much more comprehensive. My goal is to try to capture the flavor of the discussions in our meetings by recording what each person says in detail as opposed to just summarizing the topic discussed. So far, everyone is really happy with the new approach. Thankfully, I type fast (about 100-110 wpm) but I wish I had trained as a court reporter and had one of those cool court reporter machines. Wouldn't that be amazing for taking notes verbatim? Usually I type in "shorthand" and then expand the "shorthand" later into whole words and sentences. Crazy.

I'm looking forward to Friday. I get to see the Harrisons (Nathan's folks). We're going to move our boys out and clean their room together. I really like them and will miss them at Parent's Weekend next year. I'm glad I get to see them this week. I'm hoping maybe they'll come up to Sandpoint and go camping this summer! It would be so cool!

Well, it's 7AM... shower time...So.... off I go.

Lycos did me in too!

So, what's up with Lycos anyway? First Nathan's Lycos account was closed mysteriously for no apparent reason, forcing him to develop a new site. Now mine is closed, meaning any photos I had linked to that site now show up as little red x's in my blog. Fortunately for me, I have a web server at work from which I can host my photos. The big pain is that I now have to go back and change the links on any photos that are MIA in past blog posts. Ugh. Lycos - you suck!

Ew! My keyboard is disgusting!

I sat down to post and made the mistake of looking at my keyboard. With my new glasses I can now see every speck of dirt and debris on every key. Ewwwww! It is soooo gross. I don't even really eat at my keyboard and it's still disgusting. It's dusty and there are little crusty spots on some of the keys. I can only imagine what germs I'm infesting myself with every day. But then, they are my germs, so maybe it's not so bad. I really need to take every key off and clean this thing thoroughly. I could just go get a brand new keyboard from my supply closet and avoid the ordeal of cleaning this one, but there's a problem. This keyboard is special. It is a wave keyboard, for one thing, and it has a touchpad in the keyboard, for another.

I love this keyboard. Most keyboards with touchpads - well every one except this one - have the touchpad in the middle under where your two thumbs go, like laptops. I hate that location. It's too easy to accidentally hit the touchpad with your palm or your thumbs. This keyboard has the touchpad under the arrow keys. It's the perfect spot. I scoured the internet for every keyboard with a touchpad that was available and none of them had the touchpad in this location. My keys were wearing out - the letters were worn off of at least half the keys - and I needed a replacement. So, I contacted Cirque, the makers of this keyboard, to see if I could get another one. They had 2 left in stock - that was it. They were no longer making this keyboard. So, I did the logical thing and ordered both of them. I put one of the new ones in place of my existing keyboard and was dismayed to find that they had changed the texture of the touchpad on the new keyboards so it wasn't as slick and didn't seem to be as responsive as my old keyboard. So I took all the old keys off my old keyboard, took all the new keys off the new keyboard, and switched them. Voila! My keyboard had great new keys and my old favorite touchpad. I just hope the touchpad doesn't wear out. Anyway, it's been a while since I did that, and now that I can see, I see that it's time to clean the keys. How do the sides of keys, the part you don't ever touch, get so dirty? It's mind boggling.

Guess I'd better start pulling keys off.....

What season is this?

First - I'm a bad blogger. I have been so lax in blogging lately that I'm sure I've completely lost my readers, the three I used to have. Guess I'll just blog for my own entertainment.

Second - this is the most bizarre weather year ever. We barely had a winter this year, which was both good and bad - bad for skiers, snowmobilers, and the water situation, but good for those of us who hate driving in snow and ice, shoveling driveways, gray winter days, and stuff like that... you know, those of us who grew up in Southern California where, as we all know, it never rains (tell that to the So Cal folks this year!). Now, here it is, April 26, and it was 82 yesterday! EIGHTY-TWO!!! In Sandpoint, Idaho! In April! I've already mowed my lawn three times! I've lived here for 22 years and have never, ever seen an April like this. WARNING: It could still snow before summer actually arrives.

The accepted logic here is you can't plant your garden until "the snow is off Baldy" - a medium-sized mountain under which the town sits - and it's not, but I think this year all the accepted norms should be tossed aside because nothing is normal. Everyone was saying before winter we were in for a bad one. The caterpillars were really fuzzy or something like that, the geese left early...well, bzzzzzt! WRONG! So, I'm thinking it's definitely time to plant SOMETHING despite the fact that it's only April 26 (which is also my son-in-law's 30th birthday). I think this weekend I will put my patio pots together. It is weird though - my grape hyacinths are barely blooming, the tulips are still just buds, and daffodils are still bright and perky, so how can I even ponder putting together a pot of geraniums, pansies, nemesia, and the like? It's just not synching in my brain...

Speaking of this weekend, Sunday, May 1, is Bloomsday, the largest timed road race in the world. I have "run" this race about 10 times or so. My first one was May 1987. My husband and I ran and pushed a stroller with Jonathan in it. He was not yet a year old. Right before we crossed the finish line, I got him out of the stroller and let him walk across on his own. We had entered him so he got a t-shirt too. We ran it for the next three years, with Tom carrying him on his shoulders for 7.46 miles when he was 3 and weighed about 45 pounds. He finally got too big to carry and they stopped letting stroller pushers run so we took a break. We ran it again a few years later when he was big enough to do the whole course on his own two legs. Now I do it with some co-workers or my daughter and her friend. Last year Shana and I did it, just the two of us, and without any advance training on my part, we finished in 1:43 - pretty good for someone with two bad knees who doesn't run and hadn't trained at all. This year I don't expect to do as well. I'm about 20 pounds heavier (ugh) and my knees are worse than ever AND I haven't even been walking in advance of Bloomsday. I'll be happy to just finish under two hours. At least this year the weather should totally rock.

So, one of my favorite TV shows is Joan of Arcadia. I love the way she is so sarcastic to God and yet does what he asks her to and sees how what He asks her to do affects others. Anyway, I read that it might not come back next year. That would be tragic. So, if you like Joan, I suggest you join me in emailing or writing CBS on behalf of Joan. It is a great, wholesome show and needs to stay on TV.

Ciao! Sieze the day!

A chip off the old block

Jonathan called yesterday to say he wasn't so sure he wanted to continue to major in computer science. His exact words were "I can't see myself sitting in front of a computer coding all day." Deja vu! I said words very similar to that back when I was in college majoring in electrical engineering. I think my comment was "I don't see myself sitting in a cubicle punching out punch cards all day" (I date myself with punch card comment). I changed my major to art, hoping to study graphic design. Unfortunately, UC Santa Barbara didn't have a graphic design department, just a fine art department, so I majored in art with an emphasis in painting. Ah yes, such a lucrative major. And I SO never used it....

Now Jonathan is repeating my lament, pondering his future. It's what you do in college - explore things you never got to explore in high school, figure out what you want to do with your life - I totally get that. But I can also look back at that fateful decision in 1974 and see how shortsighted I was. I made that comment after trudging through the horribly boring courses you have to take as the foundation to prepare you to do the more exciting, fun stuff. Being an engineering major didn't mean I was doomed to cubicle-sitting for the rest of my life. I didn't have an advisor that knew me from Adam to help me think through my decision, and computing was a relatively new field then (they didn't even have a computer science major at UCSB then), so who was going to talk to me about all the cool, creative stuff that I could end up doing if I'd just do the drudgery of the first couple of years? No one. Jonathan, on the other hand, has a great advisor - a guy who actually worked at Microsoft - and he KNOWS Jonathan from Adam so, I did what any good mom would do - I told Jonathan to talk to Pete. Hopefully, Pete can give Jonathan a little insight into what might lay ahead for him. Maybe Pete will see that CS really isn't his thing and point him toward what Jonathan has always said he wants to do - computer animation and graphics - or maybe he'll be able to point out how the two can be combined. I don't know what he'll say, but I'm going to trust him to do his best to help Jonathan decide what to do.

If Jonathan does decided to pursue the more artistic end, I know the struggles he will face. I changed to art and entered a world in which I had never before walked. I was surrounded by kids who had been "artists" their entire lives. These kids had taken art classes for as long as they could remember. I had taken only the one I needed to fulfill the graduation requirement. I'd always liked to draw and paint but had never considered myself an artist, and besides, I was too busy taking math, science, foreign language, and advanced English classes to have time for art or photography - both of which I love now. Jonathan has followed much the same course - except he's never taken even one art class. It can be daunting to take a design or drawing class and see masterpieces being created by your classmates while you're scratching out something that looks like a 3rd grader drew it. Been there, done that, it wasn't fun. But who knows, with some guidance, some training, he might do really well. He does seem to be a natural when it comes to photography (according to his photojournalism teacher) and he obviously has an artistic eye. From what I could gather from the Whitworth catalog, he could take the digital art/printmaking track and not be forced to take ceramics, sculpture, painting, and drawing like I was. He would have to take design - a very good thing - and then could focus on the digital aspect and throw in some computer graphics, Photoshop, and photography. So, we'll see. He certainly has more options than I did for combining his analytical and artistic sides. I just want him to be happy and thrive.

I do worry that one reason he is rethinking CS is because it's hard and "not fun". How do you tell your kids without them rolling their eyes at you, that a lot of college is hard and not fun? If it were easy, everyone would go, and do well. Jonathan is not used to working hard for things, especially in school. Too much has come too easily for him and what hasn't been easy he's been satisfied to just get through. He needs to learn that, at some point, you do have to work really hard at stuff that's not fun so you can get to the fun stuff. I hope maybe Pete can help him see that too.

Off I go to do some not fun hard stuff at work....

Terri Schiavo

I am so upset about the latest ruling by the appellate courts. It seems to me that this time Terri will die and that makes me so sad and so angry. I just don't get it. Her husband claims she would not want to be kept alive in this state based on some comment she made back when she was a young woman. Okay, so maybe she did say that, but how many of us have made statements in our twenties only to find ourselves feeling exactly the opposite once we've matured? I know I have changed a lot since my 20's. The fact is, she didn't have a written document stating her wishes. In my opinion, if you have family members willing to care for the ill person, why is there even a question as to whether to sustain life or not? Let the family members who want to take on the burden do so! What does it hurt Michael Schiavo to let Terri live? I just find it hard to believe that he loves her so much that he has fought for her "right to die with dignity" for so long and yet he shacks up with and has children with another woman. It really does seem to be about money. Let it go, Michael! Let the Schindlers take care of Terri and spend their lives with her. After all, they have been her parents a LOT longer than you were married to her (pre-heart attack). Shouldn't they have some say? It just makes no sense to me. It's not like Terri is on a respirator and ventilator and lying in bed like a zombie. She can do everything but swallow. That doesn't seem like a state of being that is so awful as to warrant pulling the plug. Heck, who knows what she is aware of? Look at the woman who was in a persistent vegetative state for 20 years and then recently suddenly "woke up" and started talking!!! It can happen! Let Terri live!

As for living wills - I think we don't think through all the scenarios when we draw these things up. We say "oh, I don't want to be kept alive artificially if something happens to me". Okay.... But what constitutes "kept alive artificially"? I could understand if you were brain dead, or maybe unable to breathe, eat, etc. on your own, but what if you could breathe, move, make noises, respond to stimuli, but just couldn't swallow? Would that change your instructions about being kept alive artificially? Look at Stephen Hawking - the guy is pretty much unable to move, can't speak except through a computer that he controls with nearly invisible movements.... I don't know about whether he can eat on his own or not, but it sounds like he is in a state very similar to Terri's and yet he is one of the most brilliant men on earth. He went from being "normal" to his current condition thanks to ALS but I don't see anyone clamoring to take away his ventilator or stop feeding him. Anyway, back to living wills.... If you are in a coma, on life support or being fed through a feeding tube like Terri, what difference is it going to make to YOU, especially if you aren't aware of your surroundings, if a loved one doesn't want to pull the plug? Theoretically, you're oblivious. If it makes your spouse, children, siblings, or parents happy to be able to visit you, communicate with you, etc. Why should they be denied that opportunity just because you, in all your wisdom, wrote out a document that says "pull the plug"? I think you should write out a will that says "pull the plug unless my (family members of your choosing) don't want to". You never know - some miracle "cure" or breakthrough might occur during your time in a coma, or you could awaken magically one day. Why remove that option? I feel the same way about funeral wishes. People make comments or put in their wills that they don't want a funeral or they want this or that done after they die. Excuse me, but aren't you dead? What difference does it make whether or not you liked funerals and want one? If your loved ones want a funeral service to celebrate your life, they need to have one! My mom hated funerals and said she wanted to be cremated and sprinkled out over the ocean. When she died, he just had her cremated and the Neptune Society sprinkled her ashes over the Pacific. Okay, Mom got her wish, but the rest of us never got to say goodbye. We were young and didn't know any better, but as we got older, the lack of closure started to bother all of us and her brother. Several years ago we all chipped in and bought a headstone and had it put in the cemetery in Santa Maria so that someone 100 years from now traipsing through that cemetery will see that Lynda Filippi lived and was loved. It may seem silly to some of you, but for us, it helped give us closure. We wanted to have a service for her but have yet to get all of us together from across the country t do that. So.... My dad has in his will "no funeral"....Tough darts, Dad. We're having one. You'll be dead so it really won't matter to you, but it will matter a lot to us. That's sort of the same way I feel about the whole living will and dying with dignity issue. Let those who are alive, who love you and care about you, have at least the option of maintaining life support for you if they want to. If you're coherent enough to say "I don't want to live like this", well that's another story and a different matter. If you are brain dead or tests show no response whatsoever, then pull the plug, but if there's any doubt at all, let your loved ones make the final call.

That's my rant. You can disagree as you like. You can think I'm an idiot. But it won't change my position. We should stop being so darned selfish and let those who love us do what they need to do.

There and Back Again

So, we just got back - well, on Saturday we got back - from our Spring Break vacation. This was a really random trip that turned out really well. We hadn't really planned to go anywhere during Spring Break, though Tom had bid the vacation days last March. We like to try to schedule his vacations to coincide with Jonathan's school breaks as much as possible cuz you just never know. Well, this year it turned out to have been a really good thing.

About a month ago I decided we should try to at least go somewhere for a few days just to get away. That meant we'd be driving so our destinations were somewhat limited. We all decided we did not want to go to the Oregon Coast. We've done that before in April and it's cold and windy and not a lot of fun after the first few hours. Seattle, on the other hand, has so much to do regardless of the weather. So, Seattle it was. Then I had the brilliant idea of also going somewhere I've always wanted to go - Victoria, BC. I talked to a friend who has been there often and was informed that, though it's early and not a lot of flowers are in bloom yet, it would still be worth a visit. So, I started planning. Initially, I thought we'd stay the week in Seattle and maybe do a day trip to Victoria. My friend suggested I consider staying in Victoria since the exchange rate is favorable and it's not high season so rates are low. What a great suggestion that turned out to be! I got a great price on a room ($50 a night), the ferry ride over turned out to be half price, and I got half-price discounts for almost every "attraction" we visited!

Anyway, we headed to Seattle on Sunday, arriving about 4PM at the La Quita Inn & Suites Downtown where we get a great FedEx corporate discount (just $70/night). After we got situated in our room we headed over to the Space Needle and Science Center just to walk around and look at stuff and take pictures. It was about a half mile walk from our hotel - a piece of cake! We decided to go ahead and go up in the Space Needle - something I haven't done in over 18 years. We had to cajole Tom into going as he is not fond of heights. Once we got to the top, he was glad he had come. The weather was perfect! We could see Mt. Rainier - a rare thing - and all the islands and everything. It was beautiful! I have never been to Seattle on a more perfect day. Jonathan took tons of photos, getting some really beautiful sunset shots and cool nighttime shots. There was a guy up there with a great Canon digital SLR setup taking photos. Jonathan finally went over and started talking to him about his camera setup, what he was shooting, etc. Jonathan has really caught the photography bug and is talking about working two full-time jobs this summer so he can buy a digital SLR. I must say, he seems to have a great eye for interesting photos. He didn't get that from me. I tend to take very touristy photos. Jonathan has learned a lot about how to look at the subject matter from a very different perspective from his photo teacher and is putting that to good use. Anyway, we had a great time up there looking at the city, watching the sun set, drinking lattes, and then browsing the gift shop at the bottom.

Day 2 we trekked to Pike Place Market. What a cool place that is! We got there early - before a lot of the merchants were even open - so we walked all the way down the zillions of steps to the wharf. We walked around down there for a while, then headed back up to the market once it was fully open. Again, photography sort of ruled the day. I did get to talk to some of the guys at the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market about the fact that the management team at the library read the book When Fish Fly, a book about management and customer service written by the owner of the fish market. I saw the owner buzzing about and tried to talk to him, but he was really busy so I never got to say hi to him. Anyway, we walked up and down the market several times, had a great Russian pastry at one of the shops across the street from the market, took more photos, and walked some more. Then it was time to head to the Crab Pot Restaurant for lunch. This "event" was Jonathan's main reason for going to Seattle. They dump this huge pot of shellfish, corn-on-the-cob, potatoes, and sausages on your table and you just dive in. Here is a photo of what the pile of food looked like:



It's not cheap - $29/per person - but it's sooooooo delicious and filling!!!

After lunch we walked back up the stairs to 1st Street and then headed down to Pioneer Square. On the way back we stopped in at this shop that has every imaginable caramel and candy apple you could imagine and had their Explosion apple.



The Explosion is the one on the second shelf in middle section. You can't tell how huge it is in this photo but it's easily twice the size of the other apples. It's enormous and has seven layers, one of which is peanut butter, all on a nice Granny Smith apple. It was amazing. After walking around Pioneer Square, we headed back to our room. By this time we had walked about 8 miles (I wore a pedometer). The plan was to get the tripod and go back when it got dark to take some more photos then go eat at the Red Robin on the wharf. Well, we did get the tripod and did go back to the market to take the photos, but the thought of walking down those zillions of stairs and back up again was just a little daunting. So we headed back toward our room looking for some place to eat that was not fast food. We ended up eating at a Mexican restaurant in a shopping center that reminded me of River Park Square in Spokane (upscale shops, AMC theater on the top floor with eateries around it). It was okay food but very expensive and the service was slow. By this time, it was late and we still had quite a walk back to the room. We pretty much crashed into bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

And that was all just day one! (to be continued)

That's Level 3000 in WoW Years

Yesterday I hit the half century mark. I also realized I have been with my husband for half my life! That milestone was almost harder to grasp than my age. Wow, half my life! Actually, as of July we will have been living together for 25 years. We got married in June 1981, but we began cohabitating in July 1980, so yeah, half my life.

This was an awesome birthday. It started on Monday. My best friend, Kate, took me to lunch for my birthday. It has been our tradition to take each other to lunch for our birthdays and Christmas. My folks were coming to town to take me out on my actual birthday, so Kate and I went on Monday. There is this awesome restaurant in town called Cafe Trinity. They serve Creole style food that is well-prepared, beautifully presented, spendy but deliciously worth it. It is always fun to get away from work and just visit with Kate and Monday was no exception. The food only added to the enjoyment of the occasion.

Upon my return from lunch, as I walked by the information desk, one of the staff persons pointed to this huge dieffenbachia sitting on the counter and said "Gina...." I looked at her quizzically, completely confused. "Huh?" "That's for you!" I still had a really puzzled look on face and it just wasn't sinking in that this plant was for me. What had me really baffled was I couldn't begin to imagine where it had come from. I thought perhaps Robyn (the staffer) had gotten it for me as a thank you because I've been helping her with some projects for the business she and her husband have. I walked to the plant and saw a card. It was from my awesome sisters, Kristi and Richele!!! This plant is beautiful, as you would expect a plant from a florist would be. Immediately I realized that they were both lying little "tricksy fellows". Kristi had called me Saturday to ask me if I was going to be at work this week, claiming she might forget my birthday and wanted to wish me happy birthday "just in case".... Rikki did the same thing Monday claiming she was booked up all day Tuesday and wanted to say happy birthday just in case but wanted to know if I was going to be at work or not.... Liars! They wanted to make sure I was going to be in so I would get the plant! I called both of them immediately and greeted them both with "You liar!!!" which was met with gales of laughter by both of them. What a wonderful surprise!

Tuesday morning we had a staff meeting scheduled. I now take the notes on this laptop so I have to be sure to be there on time, something I'm not known for. I rushed in at 8:26 - the meeting starts at 8:30 but we are to be there at 8:25. As I walked into the meeting area I was greeted by a chorus of voices saying "there she is!" On the table were platters of fresh fruits, donuts, and pastries. I was wished happy birthday by everyone. At the head of the table was a chair that said "Gina's chair". I sat down, smiling, and got the laptop out to begin notetaking. Wayne, the boss, said to put it away, that we were not going to have a regular staff meeting. They then wheeled out on a library cart a huge chocolate cake that said "Happy Birthday, Gina" on it. There was a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a gift, some cards, and a balloon bouquet. Molly came over and placed a very gold plastic tiara on my head. We had ice cream cups and juice as well. I cut the cake and thanked everyone profusely. It was so wonderful. I have never felt so appreciated! Molly got me a beautiful crystal bell to add to my bell collection. She has an amazing knack for remembering what people collect and manages to get them the perfect gift for their birthday or Christmas. She is so thoughtful! The flower bouquet was from Sue E. She is another wonderful, thoughtful, amazing person who is the Mother Theresa of squirrels. She has two pet squirrels and feeds an entire squirrel community at her home. Whenever a squirrel is injured or a baby is found without parents, she nurses them back to health. She's incredible. I got several cards, a cool little birthday pop-up book, and some other nifty little gifts. When the meeting was over, I went up to my office. It looked like a garden in there! Kate had given me a big basket filled with primroses of every color with a cool frog Mylar balloon attached. Robyn had given me a bouquet of daffodils and another balloon, and there were other little gifts on my desk. Sue M gave me a beautiful peach latte mug with two biscotti and some Lowry's Fogcutter blend coffee (she so knows me!) It was amazing! Then, moments later, I was called down to the info desk to get another delivery! My wonderful husband had sent me a beautiful spring bouquet! (Nieman's Floral made a killing off my birthday!) So, my office really DID look like a garden!

Unfortunately, my office is such a disaster I had nowhere to put all the wonderful flowers and gifts so I decided I had to finally clean it up. Our finance person, Denise, is the most organized person you will ever meet. Ever! She came in and asked if I needed help. Was she kidding? Uh, YE-ES! So, we started dividing stuff into groups - computers that work and that we're keeping, computers that work but we're selling as surplus, and computers that don't work and that we're tossing. The same with parts. By 11:30, just a little over an hour later, we had made some pretty amazing headway. My folks arrived to take me to lunch so we took a break.

My folks took me to Joel's, this cool little Mexican food place that used to just be a stand but became so popular he had to expand and provide some indoor seating. The food is awesome and cheap. Joel is a character, very friendly, funny, and likeable. His wife is even better. They make you happy just seeing them. I had a fish taco - sooooo delicious and only $2.50. Mom and Dad had the carne asada burrito with a chili verde burrito to go. All that food and a Diet Pepsi for just over $10. It's more than enough food too. So, we ate and visited and had a great time. I have to say, it was one of the best visits I've had with them. It was truly enjoyable.

When I got back to work, Denise went back to attacking my office. I'm happy to say that 1/3 of my office is clean - clean enough that I can display my flowers and gifts on my workbench. Today she and I will start on the piles and piles of paper on my three desk surfaces. That's going to be interesting. The ultimate goal here is to rearrange my office, putting my desk over by the window instead of opposite it and hopefully opening up the space a bit more by rearranging the desk, workbench/tables, shelves, and storage cabinet areas. I have it all planned out in my head and I can envision it. It's just going to be interesting to see how it all really looks. The furniture is big, heavy, and cumbersome so moving it around will be a feat, but Dayton, our building manager, said he is more than happy to help, even disassembling and reassembling as needed. It would be cool if I could get it done before we leave on vacation next week for spring break!

So, to end my birthday, my daughter and son-in-law came over and made dinner for us. YUM! It was a kind of shepherd's pie but made with pork, apples and onions with mashed potatoes on top. It was delish! We had steamed asparagus and salad as accompaniments. The dessert was a homemade from scratch (cake flour and the whole bit) chocolate cake. Tyler, my 3 year-old grandson, when I asked Shana what kind of cake it was, said "chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!" Turns out, that's exactly what the Martha Stewart for Kids cookbook called it! :) It was quite the delicious chocolate cake and soooooo moist! And the biggest surprise of all... they got me a beautiful amethyst ring! It's simple (the way I like jewelry) with a beautiful square cut amethyst set on the diagonal (so it looks diamond shaped when you look at my hand) in a very simple gold setting. It's exquisite. Purple is my favorite color so, when she couldn't find an aquamarine she liked, she opted for the amethyst. Smart girl! I have a ring my dad got me for my high school graduation - an alexandrite in a very simple antique gold setting that looks like a small flower - that I have worn every day of my life for 33 years. The new ring fits on the same finger (right ring finger) so I have to decide whether to have my old ring resized for my pinky or just alternate rings. I'm still pondering that option. But what a wonderful surprise the ring was. I am thrilled to death!

So, that was my 50th birthday. At 9PM I finally talked to Jonathan who reminded me that I was now officially an old fart. He said "wow, you're level 50 - I mean...." and started laughing. I could hear his roommate, Nathan, laughing the background. Jonathan went on to explain that he'd been talking about World of Warcraft with Justin and was playing at that moment so his mind was on levels.... So I figured, it seems like these guys level about 5 levels a month, which means about 60 levels in a year, give or take (I could have this totally wrong and I'm sure one of them will set me straight, but for the sake of argument, let's just say I'm right), so that would make me about level 3000 in WoW years. Happy birthday to me!