Friday, November 21, 2008

Bill Whittle posted today about his first day on the job training.

Having had to endure this form of training every two years or so in my current job, I commiserate with Bill. What I appreciate about the folks in my office, though, is the mockery that ensues when the video starts up. Common sense and common courtesy go a lot further for most people.

I saw this earlier in the week at Thinklings, but it was always while at work and I can’t view YouTube stuff at work. So today is the first chance I had to see it and Jared is right, “This is some of the most accurate (and hilarious) social commentary I’ve ever heard.”

So one of the needed items on Jesse’s Christmas list is a winter coat. With the cold snap lately, I’m reluctant to wait another month for that necessary item - also not knowing if it was going to be under the tree at all. So I did some quick and dirty shopping at Walmart.com and found a good coat (size 3T, so maybe he’ll be able to wear it next winter, too) for only $15.00. Nice.

If anyone already bought a winter coat for him for Christmas, please accept my apologies for getting ahead of things. Sometimes waiting isn’t prudent. A second coat would be nice for options, though.

Beau took Jesse for a walk and some run around time at the park. We bundled him up as much as possible, but really a fleece sweatshirt isn’t going to do much against a stiff wind in 30 degree temps. We think the wind chill this morning put the temp in the 20s. He did have on a hat and mittens and wasn’t out for more than an hour, but that’s still a long time with little protection against bitter cold.

Pictures were taken and will be posted here later.

ESFP?

ESFP - The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

That’s really funny, since I usually test as an ISTJ on the MBTI.

[via OTB]

Reagan Rulz.

[via Thinklings]

Thursday, November 20, 2008

So I had another night of battling insomnia and odd dreams - I’m kicking myself for not saying anything to my doc at my appointment on Tuesday after all. However, the bright point of the odd dreams was that the latest People Mag Sexiest Man Alive was featured.

It’s all a jumble, but here’s what I remember from the snippets of the dreams…

I think it started with Jaynee and I reminiscing about seeing Hugh in The Boy From Oz on Broadway. And I had the soundtrack (is there even a recorded soundtrack of that musical?). So I was listening to Hugh’s lovely singing as I drove with my Mom and her friend KH to some place in Vienna or Falls Church. We each had our own car and I was the lead car, although my Mom was the one who knew how to get where we were going. Anyway, we got to this weird intersection and I turned left because I thought that was the way to go and I slowed down for my Mom to take the driving lead. But Mom and KH were no where on the road around me and I realized that I should have turned right.

But then the scene cut to me walking inside a building and it was dark with no lights on. But the place was familiar to me so I walked to where I thought I wanted to be and ended up in a partially renovated bedroom of what turned out to be a large house. I realized that it was an amalgam of houses that Beau and I had looked at in our fruitless house hunt. This house was only partially lived in, there were a lot of empty rooms, but it was clear that someone was living there while doing the renovations. So I tried to find my way out and only ended up trapped, unable to find a door. And somehow I knew there was an alarm that I would set off if I tried to open any doors.

Weird, no? Weirder still was that while I was in the house, I was still hearing the melodious tones of Hugh Jackman.

I need help.

Funny thing was when I told Beau about it, he couldn’t remember who Hugh Jackman is and I was too out of it to remind him of X-Men. However, when he sees the picture in this post, his memory will come back. And I explained that I’ve had my crush on Mr. Jackman since long before I even met Beau. I’m not sure that helped, though.

[ADDED LATER]: Of course there’s a soundtrack of The Boy From Oz. No, I don’t want to own it, thanks.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

I’m sleeping better, but still having the occasional bizarro dream. Two recents:

1. From the weekend, this one has an Invasion of the Body Snatchers thing going. Think 1978 Donald Sutherland version of the story. In my dream Beau, Jesse and I were holed up with my parents and some other friends (who were actually made up people that I have never seen before in real life) in a house. We were desperately trying to get in touch with my sister to make sure they had not turned into pod people. We slept in shifts during the day and stayed awake at night because that was when the pod people would be out and about converting the unsuspecting into more pod people.

2. From last night, this one featured Robbo Llama Butcher, I think because he commented on an earlier dream post about his parent nightmares about his daughters. Beau, Jesse and I lived in a house near some body of water and there was a creature in the water than menaced our neighborhood. In desperation, we contacted Robert for help and he came armed with all sorts of weaponry to do battle with the beast. It reminded me of the Watcher in the Water in The Fellowship of the Rings near the mines of Moria.

On my commute home last night I was listening to the Mike O’Meara show on the radio and caught his interview with Craig Glazer, author of The King of Sting.

Craig Glazer’s story began in 1971 in a student apartment where, as a freshman at Arizona State University, he got ripped off trying to buy marijuana. Fueled by fantasies drawn from movies of the era like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which the hero was just on the edge of the law, Glazer decided to strike back at the dealers. With his partner, the streetwise Vietnam veteran Don Woodbeck, he orchestrated his first “sting,” posing as local law enforcement. He walked away from that first sting with $50,000 and a high he couldn’t get from any drug. So began Glazer’s career as the King of Sting.

From Boston to Phoenix, Kansas City to Las Vegas, Glazer, Woodbeck, and their crew set up cons and raked in a fortune in cash and drugs, eventually becoming so successful that Glazer was hired as an undercover cop by the Kansas State Attorney General’s office to help capture some of the most notorious criminals in the Midwest. The outlaw lifestyle began to take its toll, and one by one, the crew members got out while they still could. Glazer and Woodbeck headed to Hollywood, where they hooked up with an agent and tried to sell their remarkable story. But even with the glitz of Hollywood and the promise of a movie deal, they still weren’t willing to give up the game. Woodbeck tried one last sting, a set-up that went horribly wrong and left him dead. Despite the danger, Glazer then attempted the ultimate sting in Los Angeles, all on his quest to become famous, even if meant becoming infamous.

The interview was riveting because Glazer is a natural story teller. What struck me was that in his telling of his story, he didn’t really try to glorify himself or the illegal things he did. He really just wanted to tell it because he knows it is an interesting tale. He freely admitted that he was an idiot.

I plan to add the book to my hold list at the library (if they have it).

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

We watched Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day over the weekend. We both liked it a lot. It was a bit more baudy than I expected, but completely charming. I highly recommend it.

We weren’t but about 20 minutes into it when I turned to Beau and warned him that I would be crying at the end because I’m a sappy romantic. When we got to the end and I was indeed crying, he had a chuckle.

Miss Pettigrew gets 4 stars out of 5.

One note: I was convinced early into the movie that the woman who plays Edythe voiced the evil cat in Babe. However, I am wrong.

I can’t remember the link to get into the Ticklish Giggles control panel, so I have to post the latest update here. I’ll cross post it over there later.

So, this week marks the 20 week point in the pregnancy - I’m halfway! Woo!

My appointment this morning was uneventful. The doctor is pleased with our progress. I’m happy to have a completely normal pregnancy this go ‘round. Here are the stats:

Weight: So far I’ve gained a total of 13 lbs, which is really good. It’s so weird to me that I have a hard time managing my weight when not pregnant, but when I am pregnant it’s easy to control.

Uterus: According to the doc, the measurement of my uterus is right on track for 20 weeks. The top of the uterus is right above my belly button, which is getting shallower by the week.

Baby Activity: Off the charts in the past few days. This is a busy baby. The doc put the Doppler on my belly to listen to the heartbeat and immediately got a few thumps from baby feet or hands. The heart rate was in the 140s.

Ovarian Cyst: Looked the same in the last ultrasound. They still plan to leave it alone for now and will reevaluate at delivery.

I’ll have my glucose test after the holidays, for which I’m grateful. I plan to indulge. Also, I’m only 8 weeks away from increasing my doctor’s visits from every 4 weeks to every 2 weeks. That is amazing to me - it seemed to take forever to get to this point, but I have a feeling the last half will fly.

As for my sleeping problem - I have slept better the last few nights so I completely forgot to ask about help with insomnia.

[ADDED LATER]: Still no word on the sex of the baby. We got no cooperation from baby at the last ultrasound and the doc didn’t say anything about another ultrasound anytime soon. We have a shy, mysterious child in there, people.

Monday, November 17, 2008

... and I hope to go see this on opening weekend next spring.

It’s been a while since I mentioned my side business, but here’s a shameless self promoting post for you. I took a long break from it while I was so ill with morning sickness. However, in the past month or so, I have been working on a few new things and I did participate in my mother’s annual fall open house last weekend. Sales were slow, as I expected given the economy, but I did well considering.

One of the new things I made that I was nervous about was this necklace and matching earrings. But the cool thing was the instant feedback when the ladies first saw them - all seemed to think it was a pretty necklace and I had several interested in buying it. Ultimately, they did sell, which was very fun.

The other new thing I’m offering is glass lockets. I love these things. They are double-sided, so you can put two pictures in them. They’re easy to open, with a little screw at the top near the clasp. I sold one round one at the open house and I plan to list them in my shop today I have listed them in my shop. They are custom pieces - you order the shape you want and length of chain you want (16”, 18” or 20") and I’ll put them together for you. You have to do your own photos, though.

I also took on a few special orders from the open house - resizing a ring for a woman who has the tiniest fingers imaginable, a tea infuser, the locket, and a necklace to match a bracelet and earrings.

If you have jewelry needs for Christmas gifts, please remember my little shop. I’ll try to add new items in the next couple of weeks and I plan to mark down some of the older inventory, too.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Funny…

[via Thinkling Bill]

Friday, November 14, 2008

I got a phone call from a lady inquiring about her husband’s money. The husband was one of our “guests.” He was released and deported. His check was signed out from the jail by a deputy.

I asked a few questions and learned that the wife was told by the jail that the check was cashed.

“Then your husband must have cashed the check,” I told her.

“Oh no, his check was supposed to be sent to me,” she told me, her tone indignant. Apparently, the husband wrote to the wife to tell her that he hadn’t gotten his money from the jail, which is why she was calling. His money was supposed to be mailed to the wife.

In my head, I thought, “Your husband was just released from jail and deported. What makes you think he would not lie to you about cashing that check?”

What I said, “I’ll call the jail and look into it.”

Just talked to the jail - that dude totally lied to his wife about cashing the check. According the person I talked to at the jail, this happens all the time - she gets calls from wives, mothers, and baby mamas all the time looking for their money. Also, the deputy who signed for the check definitely gave it to the guy. I’m not looking forward to telling the lady that her husband lied to her.

*sigh*

Beau has an excellent post about Church and State Habits. An exerpt:

It seems to me that, like Esther, we each have a job to do, even if it’s not in a palace. Of course, voting in a little booth is a lot less scary than Esther’s approaching the king to speak the truth. But although our involvement in politics is limited, can our involvement be anymore unrelated to God’s plan than Esther’s? Can speaking the truth be secondary to “kingdom” work?

Go read the rest and share your thoughts with Beau.