Musings
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I Saved a Life Today
Maybe most of you wouldn’t be tooting your own horn about it, but I’m going to, for two reasons. The first is, I want to encourage those of you who CAN donate blood, but don’t, to get out there and do it. Honestly, it’s not often that we can say we saved someone’s life, that someone may have died on the operating table if it weren’t for us and the time we took out of our life to get stuck in the arm with a needle. And, I only recently learned, your blood is divided up into different componants, so it goes to several people who desperately need it. It’s…
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What’s Wrong With These Glasses?
If you’re saying that there are no frames holding the lenses onto the face, you’re correct…almost. They are attached through the bridge of her nose…you pierce the bridge of your nose and put a tiny wire through and that holds them. I can’t imagine much more disgusting than that. If you want to read more about this horrid (wonderful?) idea, click here. (The part of me that remembers people complaining about the pain of glasses and earrings in 30 below weather wonders what a piercing right there would feel like, too…ugh.) I’ve thought about getting the surgery on my eyes, so I won’t need my contacts anymore…I get so tired…
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Disturbing Thoughts…
Friday I went into the office to do some work, and I was going through some client files, and I discovered that one of our old, inactive clients was Enron. That got me thinking…I wonder if I would have felt differently about them back in 2001, when I was sweating in the dark, unwilling to turn on the a/c or a light, trying to keep my electric bill under control, worried about rolling power outs, while they were raping California for money, laughing all of the way to the bank. Would I have hated them less if they had been a current client? Somehow I doubt it. Another disturbing thing…
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Why?
Last Friday, I was in a meeting at work, and someone brought ice cream. I was full, having had pizza already, and you all know what else I was full of at that point, so not too much appitite. There were a couple of different kinds of ice cream bars, and what I want to know is, WHY did I want one so badly? There were no nuts involved. No coffee flavored ice cream involved. Just basic vanilla with dark chocolate, vanilla with milk chocolate, or dulce le leche. Nothing I really like that much. And still, I WANTED one. WANTED IT. And my stomach said, uh, no thanks. And…
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Guyanese Proverbs…
After yesterday’s recipe, I started thinking about the culture of Guyana. I’ve never been there, and I cannot claim to be any sort of authority on it at all. BUT, I can say that there are some pretty interesting expressions/proverbs. My personal favorite, especially when Ted says it while doing his best Bill Clinton impression (Don’t forget the little gesture with your hand, like you’re putting your ATM card into the machine), is this one: “When mattie’s house afire, trow watah upon you’un” Literally translated: “When your neighbor’s house is on fire, throw water upon your own” I love that in Bill’s voice. I think Bill should go down to…
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Anybody left to offend after the poop talk?
I was walking the dog the other day (She’s spoiled…she gets two walks a day), and I was listening to my beloved iPod (I’m spoiled, because Ted got me an iPod for no reason except he knew I wanted one), and I was listening to Joan Osborn’s Relish. That album always takes me back to 1995, because that’s when I first heard it, and I pretty much listened to it every day in my office at work. Ah, the days before I joined the cube dwellers, when I actually had an office…but I digress. So, I was walking along, and One of Us came on…that’s the song that made me…
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Because I don’t know Tech Stuff…
I have this great friend, Janet, who lives in New York. Yes, she’s hot, but that’s irrelevant. Esp since I’m both married and straight. Anyway, my point is, does anyone know if I can text message to her phone from my computer? Because, we could totally talk a lot more that way…and I miss her. And I know, I’m lame. I own no cell phone, because I hate them. Advice? Help? Anyone? Bueller?
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The Blog Post Where I Gross Out ALL of My Readers…
Warning…there will be poop talk. Nothing graphic, but poop nonetheless. (I usually put a graphic in my posts, but I googled ‘poop’, ‘constipation’, and ‘gross’, and came up with some stuff that you do NOT want to see. You’re welcome.) When you have an infant, or a toddler, a lot of your conversations and thoughts can revolve around the bodily functions…did she eat? Did she poop? She pooped? Yay! Of course, if she pooped on someone else’s watch, all the better, because then YOU DON’T HAVE TO CLEAN IT UP. Well, when Maya was 2 1/2, and had started pre-school, she had a teacher named Rekha, who was wonderful and…
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Commute Time
I had lunch last week with a friend who is looking for work. We were discussing two different jobs she is considering…one is close, the next town from where she lives, maybe 15 minutes by car. The other is in San Francisco, which with traffic, is not close. Can be as little as 45 minutes, but with traffic and rush hour and the tunnel and bridge, it’s usually MUCH longer. The problem is that the job in San Francisco is the job that she would LOVE. LOVE. It’s just exactly what she wants to do, and not a lot of companies are out there hiring for it. The closer job…
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Violence Begins at Home…
I was walking the dog yesterday, listening to my beloved iPod, and this week’s (last week’s, really) This American Life is about crime, and the allure of it. There are several segments in each episode of TAL. The first was Julia Sweeney (Pat, from Saturday Night Live), talking about how she fleeced an old employer for 10K – 15K way back in her youth. Interesting. Perhaps even cute, because, you know, she’s Pat. Maybe we should all write about the crimes WE’VE committed, and that might be pretty interesting…make sure the statute of limitations is past, however. Anyway, the second segment was about a bank robber, Joe Loya, who enjoyed…
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The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All The…
I was mixing some ground lamb, turkey sausage, and turkey thigh meat into a mix with Parmesan cheese and herbs to make meatballs for Ted’s birthday party dinner (spaghetti and meatballs, of course), drinking a glass of wine, listening to some music, and my mind drifted to Mad Cow disease…and I started thinking about that…about how my mother-in-law doesn’t want any of us to eat beef anymore because of it, etc. Well, the safest answer to mad cow disease is of course to not eat beef, but that’s not so likely, since I kind of think of it as the same as trying to keep people from having sex (abstinence…
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Pyramid Friends…
Black Belt Mama‘s post about House Parties, got me to thinking. You know, the candle parties, makeup parties, fake purse parties, tupperware parties…whatever. I’m not a fan of the party where I have to buy something so my hostess can get a gift. I have friends who enjoy these parties, and hey, MORE POWER TO YOU, but I probably will find a good excuse to not be there if you hold one. Consider yourself warned. But it also got me thinking about some other experiences I’ve had. Has this ever happened to you? You’re walking along, enjoying the sunshine on your lunch break, getting a little bit of exercise, and…
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Misc. Weekend Thoughts
It’s Sunday evening, downright balmy (almost 90 degrees) here, and we just finished dinner. Ted made cheese tortellini with a tomato sauce, and salad with lettuce, spinach, and pears. Mmmm. So, here’s a sort of weekend wrap up, mixed with a couple of thankfulnesses, and so on. On Friday, we went to our Parent Teacher conference at Maya’s school. The news is that she is a very good student, works hard, no problems. Good at math, good at science, good at reading, good at writing. I’m thankful for that. We know several people whose children have trouble with one subject or another, or many. Or behavioral problems, which Maya also…
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Cast Your Votes Now!
Seems like the folks at Monopoly are making yet another edition of their game…I don’t know if it will replace the Atlantic City version we all grew up with, or if it’s just another added version to add to your collection, next to your Simpson’s version, your Star Wars version, your Spongebob version, and your Lord of the Rings version. But the real estate will be from all around the country, and you can vote for your favorite landmark in your favorite city. For example, for San Francisco, they have the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, and Lombard Street. Whichever one gets the most votes will be on the upcoming…
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My Shotgun…
OK, drinks were offered…well, one drink, but I’ll take it. So now I’ll tell you the tale of my shotgun. Go ahead, sit a spell. Now, I may be a card carrying liberal…I drink Chardonnay, give money to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, I believe in gay marriage and a decent living for migrant workers. I’m a secular christian, meaning I don’t really think there’s a god above, but I love Christmas and Easter and Hannukah and all of that (I know, Hannukah isn’t Christian, but maybe Jesus had a dreidel? You think? I don’t know tech stuff.(quick, what’s that movie reference? The tech stuff one?) ) But I have…