From Yahoo News this morning:
So far in 2008, Baby Jesus has appeared in several police reports.
At First United Methodist Church in Kittanning, Pa., a baby Jesus was stolen and replaced with a pumpkin. In Eureka Springs, Ark., someone who absconded with a plastic baby Jesus from a public display last week also took the concrete block and chain that was supposed to act as a deterrent.
Previously, stolen Jesus figurines have also been defaced with profanity or Satanic symbols.
The incidents raise a question: Is stealing Baby Jesus harmless juvenile fun, or anti-Christian?
"I suspect most of it is childish pranks," said attorney Mike Johnson of the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal group. "Clearly, there are adults with an agenda to remove Christ from Christmas. But they tend to occupy themselves with the courts and courtroom of public opinion."
Stephen Nissenbaum, a retired history professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and author of "The Battle for Christmas," views the thefts as neither innocent vandalism nor religious hate crimes.
"What it means is that it's OK to go around violating even pretty important norms, as long as real human harm isn't being done," he said. "It could be Christian kids doing it — and on Jan. 2 they become good Christians again."
------------------------------------------------
This is part of an article about how churches are using GPS devices implanted in their baby Jesus figurines, and other parts of large outdoor nativities, in order to track down the criminals/pranksters who take them year after year. Here's an idea--just chain all the figurines together. And/or permanently fix Baby Jesus into his manger in some way. Ideas for that include Super Glue, 4" galvanized deck screws, lag bolts.
Or just attach an anvil to each figurine; you can order them from ACME. That's what Wile E. Coyote, Genius, would do.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Friday, December 05, 2008
The waste is just incredible
Detroit Police to burn 572 guns
BY TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA
December 5, 2008
In another shot at crime, the Detroit Police Department is burning 572 guns today, part of the more than 4,520 firearms confiscated from the hands of criminals during 2008.
Officers expect to display the guns for the media in the Detroit Police Department's Precinct 1 garage downtown at 8 a.m., then take the weapons to an undisclosed location to burn them.
The burn will be the last one of the year. The remaining weapons will be used as evidence to prosecute those who might have used them.
----------------------------------------------------------
Good grief. The least they could do is reuse the metal to build a homeless shelter... or recycle it into steel beams to build a house for Habitat.
Or, here's an idea suggested by another reader via comments on this story: sell each gun to a registered user (a non-criminal) for $500 and make over $2 million for the city! That would help the schools, the libraries... hell, it would pay for 25% of what Kwame spent on shutting up the policemen he fired. I just hope the next mayor of Detroit is not as embrassingly loose with taxpayer money and can at least clean up the mess. Anything more than that would be a true miracle.
BY TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA
December 5, 2008
In another shot at crime, the Detroit Police Department is burning 572 guns today, part of the more than 4,520 firearms confiscated from the hands of criminals during 2008.
Officers expect to display the guns for the media in the Detroit Police Department's Precinct 1 garage downtown at 8 a.m., then take the weapons to an undisclosed location to burn them.
The burn will be the last one of the year. The remaining weapons will be used as evidence to prosecute those who might have used them.
----------------------------------------------------------
Good grief. The least they could do is reuse the metal to build a homeless shelter... or recycle it into steel beams to build a house for Habitat.
Or, here's an idea suggested by another reader via comments on this story: sell each gun to a registered user (a non-criminal) for $500 and make over $2 million for the city! That would help the schools, the libraries... hell, it would pay for 25% of what Kwame spent on shutting up the policemen he fired. I just hope the next mayor of Detroit is not as embrassingly loose with taxpayer money and can at least clean up the mess. Anything more than that would be a true miracle.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Ethan update
I've been remiss on keeping any updates going on this blog about our little guy.
Last weekend the two teeth that have been bothering him finally cut through - bottom lower, in the center. He looks cute with teeth. (OK, he looks cute anyway. :) ) He has taken to chewing on just about everything: his highchair tray, clothing, blankets, stuffed animals, the side of his binky, a finger, your hair... essentially anything he can get his hands on. He reaches out now - mostly with the right hand - to grab things with all four fingers and sort of scratch them toward himself. He's also started sleeping on his side and rolling to his side to play. He still won't sit up by himself but that's only because he wants to stand up instead.
He's also getting more protein now, with Gerber and Beech Nut turkey and chicken "dinners." He doesn't like them alone so I heat them up a little, mix them with any vegetable and then he chows. His eating has been off lately, sometimes he eats so much it's sort of freaky and other times he only wants formula. We've been trying the sippy cup here and there, with apple juice, and he seems to like playing with it. He does get some juice out of it, but not much. So far he's not had any reactions to any foods, which is a relief. He started on barley cereal a couple of days ago and seems to really like it.
He is telling big long stories now, with a lot of "blah blah blah" noises and sometimes singing "lalalalala." Occasionally we can get him laughing REALLY hard, but it's never when the video camera is on, of course. When the camera comes out, he notices it and seems to act differently. Hm, wonder where he got that??
We've had to elevate his head while he sleeps at night because he has been really congested (alternating with a runny nose too). With the mattress elevated, it comes right up to the edge of the crib rail (we keep it down). I think we'll be lowering the crib before the weekend; he'll be pulling himself up soon and don't want any mishaps.
I'm still sorting out some of the 3-6 month clothes, which don't fit, that keep surfacing in the laundry... I've got a huge tub in the basement just about full. He's definitely wearing 6 mo. stuff but there are a couple of 9 mo. size pieces he can wear. Everyone comments about how long he is now. Maybe just because he's so much bigger than he used to be! He and Katie are about the same weight but he is taller. Crazy!
Last weekend the two teeth that have been bothering him finally cut through - bottom lower, in the center. He looks cute with teeth. (OK, he looks cute anyway. :) ) He has taken to chewing on just about everything: his highchair tray, clothing, blankets, stuffed animals, the side of his binky, a finger, your hair... essentially anything he can get his hands on. He reaches out now - mostly with the right hand - to grab things with all four fingers and sort of scratch them toward himself. He's also started sleeping on his side and rolling to his side to play. He still won't sit up by himself but that's only because he wants to stand up instead.
He's also getting more protein now, with Gerber and Beech Nut turkey and chicken "dinners." He doesn't like them alone so I heat them up a little, mix them with any vegetable and then he chows. His eating has been off lately, sometimes he eats so much it's sort of freaky and other times he only wants formula. We've been trying the sippy cup here and there, with apple juice, and he seems to like playing with it. He does get some juice out of it, but not much. So far he's not had any reactions to any foods, which is a relief. He started on barley cereal a couple of days ago and seems to really like it.
He is telling big long stories now, with a lot of "blah blah blah" noises and sometimes singing "lalalalala." Occasionally we can get him laughing REALLY hard, but it's never when the video camera is on, of course. When the camera comes out, he notices it and seems to act differently. Hm, wonder where he got that??
We've had to elevate his head while he sleeps at night because he has been really congested (alternating with a runny nose too). With the mattress elevated, it comes right up to the edge of the crib rail (we keep it down). I think we'll be lowering the crib before the weekend; he'll be pulling himself up soon and don't want any mishaps.
I'm still sorting out some of the 3-6 month clothes, which don't fit, that keep surfacing in the laundry... I've got a huge tub in the basement just about full. He's definitely wearing 6 mo. stuff but there are a couple of 9 mo. size pieces he can wear. Everyone comments about how long he is now. Maybe just because he's so much bigger than he used to be! He and Katie are about the same weight but he is taller. Crazy!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Ben Stein says, don't panic (a year ago)
Reprinted from Fortune.com... Note the date. I bet Ben Stein would say some of the same things today.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"STUPID" INVESTORS, REJOICE!
Ben Stein. Fortune. New York: Sep 3, 2007. Vol. 156, Iss. 5; pg. 59
Copyright (c) 2007 Time Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be duplicated or redisseminated without permission.
No one is too stupid to make money in the stock market. But there are many who are too smart to make money.
To make money, at least in the postwar world, all you have to do is buy the broad indexes domestically--both in the emerging world and in the developed world--and, to throw in a little certainty about your old age, maybe buy some annuities.
To lose money, pretend you're really, really clever, and that by reading financial journalism and watching CNBC, you can outguess the market day by day. Along with that, you must have absolutely no sense of proportion about money and the world at large.
For example, right now we are stewing over what everyone calls "the subprime mess" and going crazy, mourning all day and into the night--falling over ourselves to get all of the misery right, to paraphrase Evita. I'm writing this on Aug. 13, 2007, and in the past four or five weeks, the markets of the U.S. have lost some 7% of their value, or about $1 trillion.
But read on: The subprime mortgage world is about 15% of all mortgages, or $1.5 trillion worth, very roughly. About 10%--approximately $150 billion--is in arrears. Of that, something like half is in default and will likely be seized in foreclosure and sold. That comes to about $75 billion. Roughly half to two-thirds of that will be realized on liquidation, leaving a loss of maybe $37 billion. Not chump change by any means--but one-thirtieth, more or less, of what has been knocked off the stock market.
The "smart" investor nevertheless reads the papers, bails out, heads for the hills, and stocks up on canned foods. He gets a really big charge out of reading in the press that there are also problems in the mergers and acquisitions market and that some deals will not go through because there are problems raising the funds for the deal. He does not see that the total value of the U.S. major stock markets (the Wilshire 5000) is roughly $18 trillion. The value of the deals that have failed in the private equity world is in the tens of billions or less. The loss to investors--what the merger price was compared with the normalized premerger price--is in the billions. It's real money, and I could buy my wife some nice jewelry with it, but it's pennies in the national or global systems.
The "smart" investor also reads that the Fed has injected, say, $100 billion into the banking system in the last week or ten days, and says, "Aha! The whole country is vaporizing. Look how desperate the system is for money!" What he does not see is that the Fed is always either adding or subtracting liquidity and that recent moves are tiny in the context of a nation with a money supply in the range of $12 trillion. No, the "smart" investor is far too busy looking for reasons to run for cover and thinks he can outsmart long-term trends.
The stupid investor knows only a few basic facts: The economy has not had one real depression since 1941, a span of an amazing 66 years. In the roughly 60 rolling-ten-year periods since the end of World War II, the S&P 500's total return has exceeded the return on "risk-free" Treasury long-term bonds in all but four ten-year periods--the ones ending in 1974, 1977, 1978, and 2002. The first three of these were times of seriously flawed monetary policy that allowed stagflation, and the last one was on the heels of the tech crash and the worst peacetime terrorist attack in the history of the Western world.
The inert, lazy, couch potato investor (to use a phrase from my guru, Phil DeMuth, investment manager and friend par excellence) knows that despite wars, inflation, recession, gasoline shortages, housing crashes in various parts of the nation, riots in the streets, and wage-price controls, the S&P 500, with dividends reinvested, has yielded an average ten-year return of 243%, vs. 86% for the highest-grade bonds. That sounds pretty good to him.
The "smart" investor, in a bunker in the Montana wilderness, keeps his money in gold bullion. After all, he's heard that home prices are falling slightly nationwide and a lot in some areas (he ignores areas of rising prices like San Francisco and New York City). He says that this will discourage the consumer and lead to a severe, bottomless recession. He even has bald people on TV telling him he's right to worry.
The stupid investor, the guy who just lies on his couch, knows that the consumer is always about to stop buying and never quite does. Maybe someone in his bowling club has told him there has only been one year since 1959 when consumer spending fell--and that was barely, in 1980. Somehow, if the consumer could keep spending after the bursting of the tech bubble wiped out $7 trillion or so of wealth, maybe the consumer can keep spending even if the subprime "mess" wipes out roughly half of 1% of that tech-bubble loss and the stock market has a fit. And maybe he knows that, even if there is a recession, recessions rarely last more than two quarters, and the economy and the stock market revive mightily after that--and that buying stocks in a recession is a good idea, not a bad idea.
Now, the alert reader may at this point be saying, "Hey, that 'stupid' guy who's really smart is a long-term investor. That's why he's doing so well." Correctamundo, alert reader. There used to be a saying: "Bulls make money and bears make money, but hogs get slaughtered." I am not sure that was ever true, but it sure ain't now. The real story is that long-term investors who have some sense of proportion make money. Short-term investors who live and die by the sweep-second hand of the $300,000 watch get rich fast and poor fast and sometimes are slaughtered faster. I have no advice for them except that the next train may be bringing in someone a little younger who's a little faster on the draw and a lot hungrier, so they'd better enjoy their Gulfstream while they have it.
For the rest of us, the stock market is cheap on a price-earnings basis, profits are fabulous, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Giuliani are far from being socialists and in the long run, both here and abroad, stocks are a lovely place to be. I have no idea what the S&P will be ten days from now, but I am confident it will be a lot higher ten years from now, and for most Americans, that's what we need to think about. The subprime and private equity and hedge fund dogs may bark, but the stock market caravan moves on.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"STUPID" INVESTORS, REJOICE!
Ben Stein. Fortune. New York: Sep 3, 2007. Vol. 156, Iss. 5; pg. 59
Copyright (c) 2007 Time Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be duplicated or redisseminated without permission.
No one is too stupid to make money in the stock market. But there are many who are too smart to make money.
To make money, at least in the postwar world, all you have to do is buy the broad indexes domestically--both in the emerging world and in the developed world--and, to throw in a little certainty about your old age, maybe buy some annuities.
To lose money, pretend you're really, really clever, and that by reading financial journalism and watching CNBC, you can outguess the market day by day. Along with that, you must have absolutely no sense of proportion about money and the world at large.
For example, right now we are stewing over what everyone calls "the subprime mess" and going crazy, mourning all day and into the night--falling over ourselves to get all of the misery right, to paraphrase Evita. I'm writing this on Aug. 13, 2007, and in the past four or five weeks, the markets of the U.S. have lost some 7% of their value, or about $1 trillion.
But read on: The subprime mortgage world is about 15% of all mortgages, or $1.5 trillion worth, very roughly. About 10%--approximately $150 billion--is in arrears. Of that, something like half is in default and will likely be seized in foreclosure and sold. That comes to about $75 billion. Roughly half to two-thirds of that will be realized on liquidation, leaving a loss of maybe $37 billion. Not chump change by any means--but one-thirtieth, more or less, of what has been knocked off the stock market.
The "smart" investor nevertheless reads the papers, bails out, heads for the hills, and stocks up on canned foods. He gets a really big charge out of reading in the press that there are also problems in the mergers and acquisitions market and that some deals will not go through because there are problems raising the funds for the deal. He does not see that the total value of the U.S. major stock markets (the Wilshire 5000) is roughly $18 trillion. The value of the deals that have failed in the private equity world is in the tens of billions or less. The loss to investors--what the merger price was compared with the normalized premerger price--is in the billions. It's real money, and I could buy my wife some nice jewelry with it, but it's pennies in the national or global systems.
The "smart" investor also reads that the Fed has injected, say, $100 billion into the banking system in the last week or ten days, and says, "Aha! The whole country is vaporizing. Look how desperate the system is for money!" What he does not see is that the Fed is always either adding or subtracting liquidity and that recent moves are tiny in the context of a nation with a money supply in the range of $12 trillion. No, the "smart" investor is far too busy looking for reasons to run for cover and thinks he can outsmart long-term trends.
The stupid investor knows only a few basic facts: The economy has not had one real depression since 1941, a span of an amazing 66 years. In the roughly 60 rolling-ten-year periods since the end of World War II, the S&P 500's total return has exceeded the return on "risk-free" Treasury long-term bonds in all but four ten-year periods--the ones ending in 1974, 1977, 1978, and 2002. The first three of these were times of seriously flawed monetary policy that allowed stagflation, and the last one was on the heels of the tech crash and the worst peacetime terrorist attack in the history of the Western world.
The inert, lazy, couch potato investor (to use a phrase from my guru, Phil DeMuth, investment manager and friend par excellence) knows that despite wars, inflation, recession, gasoline shortages, housing crashes in various parts of the nation, riots in the streets, and wage-price controls, the S&P 500, with dividends reinvested, has yielded an average ten-year return of 243%, vs. 86% for the highest-grade bonds. That sounds pretty good to him.
The "smart" investor, in a bunker in the Montana wilderness, keeps his money in gold bullion. After all, he's heard that home prices are falling slightly nationwide and a lot in some areas (he ignores areas of rising prices like San Francisco and New York City). He says that this will discourage the consumer and lead to a severe, bottomless recession. He even has bald people on TV telling him he's right to worry.
The stupid investor, the guy who just lies on his couch, knows that the consumer is always about to stop buying and never quite does. Maybe someone in his bowling club has told him there has only been one year since 1959 when consumer spending fell--and that was barely, in 1980. Somehow, if the consumer could keep spending after the bursting of the tech bubble wiped out $7 trillion or so of wealth, maybe the consumer can keep spending even if the subprime "mess" wipes out roughly half of 1% of that tech-bubble loss and the stock market has a fit. And maybe he knows that, even if there is a recession, recessions rarely last more than two quarters, and the economy and the stock market revive mightily after that--and that buying stocks in a recession is a good idea, not a bad idea.
Now, the alert reader may at this point be saying, "Hey, that 'stupid' guy who's really smart is a long-term investor. That's why he's doing so well." Correctamundo, alert reader. There used to be a saying: "Bulls make money and bears make money, but hogs get slaughtered." I am not sure that was ever true, but it sure ain't now. The real story is that long-term investors who have some sense of proportion make money. Short-term investors who live and die by the sweep-second hand of the $300,000 watch get rich fast and poor fast and sometimes are slaughtered faster. I have no advice for them except that the next train may be bringing in someone a little younger who's a little faster on the draw and a lot hungrier, so they'd better enjoy their Gulfstream while they have it.
For the rest of us, the stock market is cheap on a price-earnings basis, profits are fabulous, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Giuliani are far from being socialists and in the long run, both here and abroad, stocks are a lovely place to be. I have no idea what the S&P will be ten days from now, but I am confident it will be a lot higher ten years from now, and for most Americans, that's what we need to think about. The subprime and private equity and hedge fund dogs may bark, but the stock market caravan moves on.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
A serious topic
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day: Take Action
October 15th is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in the United States. More than 25,000 children are stillborn in the United States every year leaving mothers, entire families and communities devastated. Estimates of the rate of occurrence of stillbirth make it at least as common as autism.
Stillbirth is not an intractable problem. Greater research would likely significantly reduce its incidence, but good research requires good data.
H.R. 5979: Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act is under consideration by Congress. This proposed bill would standardize stillbirth investigation and diagnosis, thus providing more data for the needed research. Better research means fewer children born still.
On October 15th, remember the thousands of unfinished children lost and the families who remain to grieve them. Honor them by taking action. Let's help pass H.R. 5979. Write to your congressman!!
October 15th is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in the United States. More than 25,000 children are stillborn in the United States every year leaving mothers, entire families and communities devastated. Estimates of the rate of occurrence of stillbirth make it at least as common as autism.
Stillbirth is not an intractable problem. Greater research would likely significantly reduce its incidence, but good research requires good data.
H.R. 5979: Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act is under consideration by Congress. This proposed bill would standardize stillbirth investigation and diagnosis, thus providing more data for the needed research. Better research means fewer children born still.
On October 15th, remember the thousands of unfinished children lost and the families who remain to grieve them. Honor them by taking action. Let's help pass H.R. 5979. Write to your congressman!!
Thursday, October 02, 2008
I'm with Gigglechick - an undecided voter
The one blog I read on a regular basis, http://www.gigglechick.com/erin/blog/index.htm, is a personal blog of a woman my age who lives in NJ. She lives with/takes care of her chronically ill mother while also trying to work at home, doing web design for comedians (hence the "giggle" part of her blog's name). She has a pretty interesting and social life, and every day struggles that she is brave enough to post out there for all to see. So maybe I am nosy, bored, or I'm just trying to live vicariously through her single life, I don't know.
Anyway, as I fell asleep last night I thought I had mostly made up my mind about who to vote for. But there are definitely limitations on each of the candidates and what they will actually be able to accomplish in Washington, and I'm not sure I agree on their stands on several issues. (I guess that is how most of the Presidential elections have gone the past few years -- vote the lesser of the two evils and hope for the best.)
So I thought I would check in with the Giggle blog today and see where she stood on this. She's been a pretty fervent Hillary supporter, and I decided a while back that I would just agree to disagree with her politics... up to this point. Surprisingly, today Giggle says this on her blog, and I am in complete agreement:
"I hope that Palin does well tonight, not because I am rooting for her, but, because if she looks like a complete moron and gets devoured by Biden tonight, it just sets women back. I am a woman without a party at the moment."
Palin seems to me, and has from her introduction to the election campaign, a loose cannon. She doesn't know what she doesn't know and that is a dangerous place to be in for a second-in-command political candidate. She can prep all she wants for this debate tonight, but until I hear her respond to a question with a straight answer, and I can tell it's coming from her and not some talking point she memorized, I just can't be impressed. I saw a few minutes of one of her interviews with Katie Couric last night. When Katie asked her to give some examples of Supreme Court decisions besides Roe v. Wade that she disagreed with, her eyes literally GLAZED OVER and you could tell she had no idea what to say. Then her response was some non-answer about how not all the decisions of the Supreme Court are going to be popular with everyone... no shit.
I just hope tonight that she uses her charm and wit and smile as a backdrop for a showcase of some real knowledge and analysis of issues; in other words, I hope she speaks intelligently. Not that that alone would convince me to vote for her ticket. I'd also have to hear some concrete plans on how her administration could get our domestic problems taken care of, and not just in the short-term. I want her to do well tonight because I don't want our gender to be embarrassed. We have finally made some headway as professional women in this country and I hope she doesn't send us back 30 years by talking like a moron in front of 70 million people.
Anyway, as I fell asleep last night I thought I had mostly made up my mind about who to vote for. But there are definitely limitations on each of the candidates and what they will actually be able to accomplish in Washington, and I'm not sure I agree on their stands on several issues. (I guess that is how most of the Presidential elections have gone the past few years -- vote the lesser of the two evils and hope for the best.)
So I thought I would check in with the Giggle blog today and see where she stood on this. She's been a pretty fervent Hillary supporter, and I decided a while back that I would just agree to disagree with her politics... up to this point. Surprisingly, today Giggle says this on her blog, and I am in complete agreement:
"I hope that Palin does well tonight, not because I am rooting for her, but, because if she looks like a complete moron and gets devoured by Biden tonight, it just sets women back. I am a woman without a party at the moment."
Palin seems to me, and has from her introduction to the election campaign, a loose cannon. She doesn't know what she doesn't know and that is a dangerous place to be in for a second-in-command political candidate. She can prep all she wants for this debate tonight, but until I hear her respond to a question with a straight answer, and I can tell it's coming from her and not some talking point she memorized, I just can't be impressed. I saw a few minutes of one of her interviews with Katie Couric last night. When Katie asked her to give some examples of Supreme Court decisions besides Roe v. Wade that she disagreed with, her eyes literally GLAZED OVER and you could tell she had no idea what to say. Then her response was some non-answer about how not all the decisions of the Supreme Court are going to be popular with everyone... no shit.
I just hope tonight that she uses her charm and wit and smile as a backdrop for a showcase of some real knowledge and analysis of issues; in other words, I hope she speaks intelligently. Not that that alone would convince me to vote for her ticket. I'd also have to hear some concrete plans on how her administration could get our domestic problems taken care of, and not just in the short-term. I want her to do well tonight because I don't want our gender to be embarrassed. We have finally made some headway as professional women in this country and I hope she doesn't send us back 30 years by talking like a moron in front of 70 million people.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
This reminds me of "The Story of Pi" - only a better ending
Riding out Ike on an island, with a lion By ALLEN G. BREED, AP National Writer Tue Sep 16, 11:52 PM ET
BOLIVAR PENINSULA, Texas - Many years from now, a small group of Hurricane Ike survivors will probably still be telling the story of how, on the night the storm flattened their island, they took sanctuary in a church — with a lion.
The full-grown lion was from a local zoo, and the owner was trying to drive to safety with the animal when he saw cars and trucks stranded in the rising floodwaters. He knew he and the lion were in trouble.
He headed for the church and was met by a group of residents who helped the lion wade inside, where they locked it in a sanctuary as the storm raged. The water crept up to their waists, and two-by-fours came floating through broken windows. But the lion was as calm as a kitten.
When daylight came, everyone was still alive.
When daylight came, everyone was still alive.
"They worked pretty well together, actually," said the lion's owner, Michael Ray Kujawa. "When you have to swim, the lion doesn't care about eating nobody."
At the Baptist church on Bolivar Island where the lion spent the night, Richard Jones, a shrimper, said he wasn't afraid of the beast.
"That little old fella is just as tame as a kitten," Jones said.
After the storm passed, the lion's caretakers fed it pork roast to keep it happy.
National Guardsmen dropping off food and water lined up Tuesday in the choir loft to get a glimpse of the lion, and the soldiers jumped back when the lion looked up from its perch on the altar and snarled.
Jones said he hadn't stepped foot in a church in the 40 years he has lived on this spit of land. And he wasn't ready to call his survival divine intervention. "I drink beer and chase women, gamble, cuss," Jones said. "You can't call that religion. I'm either too good, the devil won't have me, or I'm so bad the Good Lord won't take me. That's a good toss-up."
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
"Better to be pissed off than pissed on"
OK... This post has been rattling around in my head for a while and I "just can't take no more."
Where has all the bathroom etiquette gone??
The last few days here at the office, when I've gone into our floor's ladies room, EVERY TIME, I have walked into a stall that either has:
1) leftovers in the toilet--EWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
2) residuals in the toilet -- almost as bad as item #1, or
3) a giant wad of toilet paper that didn't flush
Ladies... take a look behind you when you're done flushing. It won't take long -- give 'er a second courtesy flush, for all concerned, if you're in doubt that your "extras" willl go down the pipes. This includes you germaphobes who use the tissue-paper "seat covers." Like those keep you from "getting" anything.
On a related note, wipe off the seat if you leave anything there. You know who you are.
And how have these same people, who can't seem to get the concept of flushing what should not be left for others, need a SECOND garbage can in the vestibule between the bathroom entry doors for their "I don't want to touch the door handle" paper towels? Not only is this ridiculously wasteful - even if we do use 60% post-consumer content hand towels - you're still going to get the same damn germs from passing intercompany mail around, touching the copier buttons, the elevator buttons and all the OTHER door handles in the place. I'm all for washing your hands and that seems to be happening, but really.
As for discussions in the bathroom between stalls... keep it free of swears, evil gossip, details of your child's delivery/any one else's terrible birthing stories, gory descriptions of health issues you or others may be having, etc. We'd all prefer that you just didn't talk at all. Do your thing and get out. Neatly.
Where has all the bathroom etiquette gone??
The last few days here at the office, when I've gone into our floor's ladies room, EVERY TIME, I have walked into a stall that either has:
1) leftovers in the toilet--EWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
2) residuals in the toilet -- almost as bad as item #1, or
3) a giant wad of toilet paper that didn't flush
Ladies... take a look behind you when you're done flushing. It won't take long -- give 'er a second courtesy flush, for all concerned, if you're in doubt that your "extras" willl go down the pipes. This includes you germaphobes who use the tissue-paper "seat covers." Like those keep you from "getting" anything.
On a related note, wipe off the seat if you leave anything there. You know who you are.
And how have these same people, who can't seem to get the concept of flushing what should not be left for others, need a SECOND garbage can in the vestibule between the bathroom entry doors for their "I don't want to touch the door handle" paper towels? Not only is this ridiculously wasteful - even if we do use 60% post-consumer content hand towels - you're still going to get the same damn germs from passing intercompany mail around, touching the copier buttons, the elevator buttons and all the OTHER door handles in the place. I'm all for washing your hands and that seems to be happening, but really.
As for discussions in the bathroom between stalls... keep it free of swears, evil gossip, details of your child's delivery/any one else's terrible birthing stories, gory descriptions of health issues you or others may be having, etc. We'd all prefer that you just didn't talk at all. Do your thing and get out. Neatly.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
(HUH!) Researcher says bigfoot just a rubber gorilla suit
By JUANITA COUSINS, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 20, 1:22 AM ET
ATLANTA - Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit.
Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice — handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it — was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit.
The revelation comes just days after a much ballyhooed news conference was held in California to proclaim that the remains of the creature found in the North Georgia mountains was the legendary man-ape.
Steve Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com and host of Squatchdetective Radio, says in a posting on a Web site run by Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi that as the "evidence" was thawed, the claim began to unravel as a giant hoax.
First, the hair sample was burned and "melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair," Kulls said in the posting.
The thawing process was sped up and the exposed head was found to be "unusually hollow in one small section." An hour of thawing later and the feet were exposed — and they were found to be made of rubber.
ATLANTA - Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit.
Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice — handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it — was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit.
The revelation comes just days after a much ballyhooed news conference was held in California to proclaim that the remains of the creature found in the North Georgia mountains was the legendary man-ape.
Steve Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com and host of Squatchdetective Radio, says in a posting on a Web site run by Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi that as the "evidence" was thawed, the claim began to unravel as a giant hoax.
First, the hair sample was burned and "melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair," Kulls said in the posting.
The thawing process was sped up and the exposed head was found to be "unusually hollow in one small section." An hour of thawing later and the feet were exposed — and they were found to be made of rubber.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Uh-huh. "Bigfoot’s press conference reveals possum DNA"
By BOB KEEFE Cox News Service
Friday, August 15, 2008
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Bigfoot lived in North Georgia, and his cousins are still there. That’s what a pair of Clayton County outdoorsmen claim.
But if they have definitive evidence to prove it, it wasn’t presented at a press conference here Friday where they had said they would make believers out of everyone. Dozens of mostly skeptical reporters showed up, lured by a flurry of interest in the story since pictures of the supposed discovery hit the Internet late last month.
Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer said a second round of DNA testing (on what they claim is a dead 7-foot bigfoot they say they stumbled upon while hiking in June in North Georgia) is still being completed.
Of three samples in a preliminary DNA test, one came back inconclusive, one contained traces of human DNA and one had traces of opossum DNA -- probably from something the creature ate, they said.
They didn’t produce a body -- that’s in a hidden location, they said, after being moved from a freezer that broke down a couple of times. They also wouldn’t say exactly where they found the creature, and where they claimed they saw a band of others watching them. And they won’t let anyone but their own hand-picked scientists examine the body.
Friday, August 15, 2008
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Bigfoot lived in North Georgia, and his cousins are still there. That’s what a pair of Clayton County outdoorsmen claim.
But if they have definitive evidence to prove it, it wasn’t presented at a press conference here Friday where they had said they would make believers out of everyone. Dozens of mostly skeptical reporters showed up, lured by a flurry of interest in the story since pictures of the supposed discovery hit the Internet late last month.
Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer said a second round of DNA testing (on what they claim is a dead 7-foot bigfoot they say they stumbled upon while hiking in June in North Georgia) is still being completed.
Of three samples in a preliminary DNA test, one came back inconclusive, one contained traces of human DNA and one had traces of opossum DNA -- probably from something the creature ate, they said.
They didn’t produce a body -- that’s in a hidden location, they said, after being moved from a freezer that broke down a couple of times. They also wouldn’t say exactly where they found the creature, and where they claimed they saw a band of others watching them. And they won’t let anyone but their own hand-picked scientists examine the body.
Friday, August 15, 2008
And hell is freezing over tomorrow.
Two men in Georgia claim they've found Bigfoot, and are supposedly doing a news conference on it later today. Hey, it could be real. But I liked this article's sarcastic tone.
-----------------------
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-08-15-bigfoot_N.htm?csp=34
-----------------------
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-08-15-bigfoot_N.htm?csp=34
Monday, August 11, 2008
Another golf post...can you tell I'm going through withdrawal?
This is pretty cool!
GAYLORD, Mich.
For somebody who'd been playing golf 50 years and never had a hole-in-one, Bob Hickey got the hang of it quickly. The 66-year-old Grayling man used a 7-iron to card his first-ever ace Thursday on the 167-yard 10th hole at Marsh Ridge in Gaylord. Then Hickey used an 8-iron to ace the 147-yard 17th hole.
According to a 2000 Golf Digest article cited by the Traverse City Record-Eagle, the odds of one player making two holes-in-one during the same round are 67 million to 1. Hickey, who finished at 2-over-par 74, says he'd made two eagles but never came close to a hole-in-one before Thursday. The long-haul trucker says he thinks he benefited from "just pure luck."
___
Information from: Traverse City Record-Eagle, http://www.record-eagle.com
GAYLORD, Mich.
For somebody who'd been playing golf 50 years and never had a hole-in-one, Bob Hickey got the hang of it quickly. The 66-year-old Grayling man used a 7-iron to card his first-ever ace Thursday on the 167-yard 10th hole at Marsh Ridge in Gaylord. Then Hickey used an 8-iron to ace the 147-yard 17th hole.
According to a 2000 Golf Digest article cited by the Traverse City Record-Eagle, the odds of one player making two holes-in-one during the same round are 67 million to 1. Hickey, who finished at 2-over-par 74, says he'd made two eagles but never came close to a hole-in-one before Thursday. The long-haul trucker says he thinks he benefited from "just pure luck."
___
Information from: Traverse City Record-Eagle, http://www.record-eagle.com
Monday, July 14, 2008
Post #70!! I heart Beth Lisick
(Wow, I just realized I've got a lot of postings here!)
The book I've been reading recently is "Helping Me Help Myself" by Beth Lisick. She is awesome and my new hero(ine?). This book is a documentary of her 12 months of self-help guru work. Each month she picked one area of her life to improve upon and enlisted the help of an "expert" in the field to get some advice from. Of course, she is very sarcastic about a lot of it because at first she is skeptical that this will work. But as the year goes on you can tell there was a change in her; she seems more accepting of just about everything, and definitely relaxes her uptight feelings about a lot of things. She has what the mainstream calls an "irreverent attitude" - my favorite kind of writing. Caustic and bitter, which is funny.
I heard her speak at the WNBA event in SF about six weeks ago, and she was hilarious. She had a great speech about waiting for the "right time" to start writing, if you have a block. There is no right time, and whatever is going on with you, write about it. Someone will appreciate good work eventually. It doesn't hurt to network too. If she needs another career (but it sounds like she doesn't from her book) she could be a stand-up comedian. I went to her website and lo and behold she does voice-over work, poetry slams, avant garde indie films with friends and performance art too. www.bethlisick.com Visit her site, buy her books!! You will not be disappointed.
The book I've been reading recently is "Helping Me Help Myself" by Beth Lisick. She is awesome and my new hero(ine?). This book is a documentary of her 12 months of self-help guru work. Each month she picked one area of her life to improve upon and enlisted the help of an "expert" in the field to get some advice from. Of course, she is very sarcastic about a lot of it because at first she is skeptical that this will work. But as the year goes on you can tell there was a change in her; she seems more accepting of just about everything, and definitely relaxes her uptight feelings about a lot of things. She has what the mainstream calls an "irreverent attitude" - my favorite kind of writing. Caustic and bitter, which is funny.
I heard her speak at the WNBA event in SF about six weeks ago, and she was hilarious. She had a great speech about waiting for the "right time" to start writing, if you have a block. There is no right time, and whatever is going on with you, write about it. Someone will appreciate good work eventually. It doesn't hurt to network too. If she needs another career (but it sounds like she doesn't from her book) she could be a stand-up comedian. I went to her website and lo and behold she does voice-over work, poetry slams, avant garde indie films with friends and performance art too. www.bethlisick.com Visit her site, buy her books!! You will not be disappointed.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
I don't know when I will golf again...
In a burst of enthusiasm about my golfing, my sweet darling wonderful husband bought me a brand new Titleist golf bag for my birthday in November. This is under the assumption of my being able to get out of the house one day a week for a league or something, once spring came around. Well, we didn't count on my getting about 1/8 of a paycheck each week through the winter, or my having to look for a new job come spring.
And we had no idea what we were in for in terms of time-consuming parenthood. Here is a "typical" night for us.
- We both arrive at home about the same time, greeting with a kiss.
- I get all the baby stuff and other miscellany out of my car and Scott gets E out of the car for me.
- We let Dudley out and let him run around squeaking his toy in blissful greeting.
- Dirty bottles, nipples, bottle covers etc. go to the sink. We also put our travel mugs in the sink, along with any dirty Tupperware we used for lunch.
- I set E on his playmat and he kicks and giggles like usual.
- Scott pours us each a nice drink - lately mine have been delicious gin & Squirt, thanks to a recent dinner guest who brought us some good stuff (thanks again Mike... I was sort of kidding when I said, "Bring gin.")
- I read over the day care sheet and see what we're up against in terms of sleep and food for E.
- Scott changes his clothes and goes outside to start the grill (because 90% of the time we're eating something grilled in the summer). Dudley follows, because... he does.
- My mom calls to talk about some logistics for the weekend.
- I take the dirty crib sheet off E's crib and take his dirty clothes downstairs. I also take our hamper downstairs.
- Tonight we're planning a trip to a family reunion for the weekend, so we need to take the back seat out of the van. In order to do this, the van needs to be in the driveway. But it can't be there because there's a giant limb from the tree that fell there (that's another story). Scott gets the chain saw out and takes care of that. Then he moves the van and gets the seat out.
- Meanwhile I start a load of laundry, taking E with me downstairs. E does not seem to enjoy the atmosphere in the basement, so we get out of there ASAP.
- Scott starts getting the burgers together, and pours some frozen green beans into a bowl for microwaving. He also feeds Dudley. Dudley won't eat his food until he sees Scott eating some chips.
- I grab a half-full bottle of formula from the day care bag and fill it with more formula to feed E. - Scott and I chat about our days at work.
- E seems hungry even after 4 more ounces of formula so I decide to make some rice cereal for him. Scott gets it together for me and I feed E in the living room while Scott eats dinner sitting on the couch.
- Scott starts reading some of the awesome book I am almost done with; he finds it as amusing as I do. Big surprise! :)
- After the cereal, E seems much happier and even starts giggling. I put away the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, and start the dishes while Scott entertains E.
- E starts fussing before I am done with the dishes, so superdad changes him, and puts PJs on him. While this is happening, I am reminded that I need to finish putting a crib sheet on the crib mattress, and I do that, but only after I realize what I thought was the crib sheet is actually for the pack and play.
- Scott puts E in the crib; he thrashes around for about 5 minutes and goes to sleep.
- Scott goes outside to clean up the yard and mow the really overgrown lawn (we've had a lot of rain). He moves a ladder, sawhorses, the recycling bin, and garbage cans before he can mow.
- I finish the dishes and realize as the water is draining that I need to go to the bathroom.
- I make E's bottles and rice cereal for tomorrow; he's going to Aunt Kim's for the day and not daycare because it's Thursday. I take an inventory of the diaper bag and restock a couple of things. Then I make sure his bouncy seat and playmat are next to the car seat with everything else; Aunt Kim's house doesn't have baby stuff anymore so it's BYO.
- I go to the basement and realize the washer has not actually done a spin cycle. But it rinsed. So I put it on spin and take the contents of the dryer upstairs to fold (they've been sitting there for a couple of days at least).
- While I am folding, Scott comes in from outside and tells me the yard waste bag that I filled up the other day and left in the yard has disintegrated in the recent soaking rains, and he needs me to come help him put the yard waste into another bag, and then store that in the garage, so he can finish mowing that part of the lawn.
- I change out of my work clothes and help him outside. While I am out there, I do some weeding in the front yard. I realize some of the perennial seeds I planted are finally coming up.
- Scott finishes mowing the lawn.
- I go to the basement to change out the load of laundry. While that's working, I decide to document this nutty lifestyle of ours on this blog.
- Scott comes in from his work outside and says, "Jimmy crack corn and I don't care." I have no idea what this means.
- He makes himself a mojito with some of the fresh mint growing behind our grill. I get some white zin out of the fridge for myself.
- While Scott is opening the wine for me he realizes he probably has bugs in his hair from being outside.
- Scott calls his parents to make sure they can take the dog overnight Saturday while we're out of town.
- Scott also calls to confirm up plans to go fishing with an old highschool friend.
- We settle in on the couch to watch some DVR recordings (usually Family Guy or Whose Line Is It Anyway) because we no longer have satellite TV service. There's nothing much on anyway.
- I'm sure we'll be in bed by 10.
I don't know when I thought I was going to golf.
And we had no idea what we were in for in terms of time-consuming parenthood. Here is a "typical" night for us.
- We both arrive at home about the same time, greeting with a kiss.
- I get all the baby stuff and other miscellany out of my car and Scott gets E out of the car for me.
- We let Dudley out and let him run around squeaking his toy in blissful greeting.
- Dirty bottles, nipples, bottle covers etc. go to the sink. We also put our travel mugs in the sink, along with any dirty Tupperware we used for lunch.
- I set E on his playmat and he kicks and giggles like usual.
- Scott pours us each a nice drink - lately mine have been delicious gin & Squirt, thanks to a recent dinner guest who brought us some good stuff (thanks again Mike... I was sort of kidding when I said, "Bring gin.")
- I read over the day care sheet and see what we're up against in terms of sleep and food for E.
- Scott changes his clothes and goes outside to start the grill (because 90% of the time we're eating something grilled in the summer). Dudley follows, because... he does.
- My mom calls to talk about some logistics for the weekend.
- I take the dirty crib sheet off E's crib and take his dirty clothes downstairs. I also take our hamper downstairs.
- Tonight we're planning a trip to a family reunion for the weekend, so we need to take the back seat out of the van. In order to do this, the van needs to be in the driveway. But it can't be there because there's a giant limb from the tree that fell there (that's another story). Scott gets the chain saw out and takes care of that. Then he moves the van and gets the seat out.
- Meanwhile I start a load of laundry, taking E with me downstairs. E does not seem to enjoy the atmosphere in the basement, so we get out of there ASAP.
- Scott starts getting the burgers together, and pours some frozen green beans into a bowl for microwaving. He also feeds Dudley. Dudley won't eat his food until he sees Scott eating some chips.
- I grab a half-full bottle of formula from the day care bag and fill it with more formula to feed E. - Scott and I chat about our days at work.
- E seems hungry even after 4 more ounces of formula so I decide to make some rice cereal for him. Scott gets it together for me and I feed E in the living room while Scott eats dinner sitting on the couch.
- Scott starts reading some of the awesome book I am almost done with; he finds it as amusing as I do. Big surprise! :)
- After the cereal, E seems much happier and even starts giggling. I put away the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, and start the dishes while Scott entertains E.
- E starts fussing before I am done with the dishes, so superdad changes him, and puts PJs on him. While this is happening, I am reminded that I need to finish putting a crib sheet on the crib mattress, and I do that, but only after I realize what I thought was the crib sheet is actually for the pack and play.
- Scott puts E in the crib; he thrashes around for about 5 minutes and goes to sleep.
- Scott goes outside to clean up the yard and mow the really overgrown lawn (we've had a lot of rain). He moves a ladder, sawhorses, the recycling bin, and garbage cans before he can mow.
- I finish the dishes and realize as the water is draining that I need to go to the bathroom.
- I make E's bottles and rice cereal for tomorrow; he's going to Aunt Kim's for the day and not daycare because it's Thursday. I take an inventory of the diaper bag and restock a couple of things. Then I make sure his bouncy seat and playmat are next to the car seat with everything else; Aunt Kim's house doesn't have baby stuff anymore so it's BYO.
- I go to the basement and realize the washer has not actually done a spin cycle. But it rinsed. So I put it on spin and take the contents of the dryer upstairs to fold (they've been sitting there for a couple of days at least).
- While I am folding, Scott comes in from outside and tells me the yard waste bag that I filled up the other day and left in the yard has disintegrated in the recent soaking rains, and he needs me to come help him put the yard waste into another bag, and then store that in the garage, so he can finish mowing that part of the lawn.
- I change out of my work clothes and help him outside. While I am out there, I do some weeding in the front yard. I realize some of the perennial seeds I planted are finally coming up.
- Scott finishes mowing the lawn.
- I go to the basement to change out the load of laundry. While that's working, I decide to document this nutty lifestyle of ours on this blog.
- Scott comes in from his work outside and says, "Jimmy crack corn and I don't care." I have no idea what this means.
- He makes himself a mojito with some of the fresh mint growing behind our grill. I get some white zin out of the fridge for myself.
- While Scott is opening the wine for me he realizes he probably has bugs in his hair from being outside.
- Scott calls his parents to make sure they can take the dog overnight Saturday while we're out of town.
- Scott also calls to confirm up plans to go fishing with an old highschool friend.
- We settle in on the couch to watch some DVR recordings (usually Family Guy or Whose Line Is It Anyway) because we no longer have satellite TV service. There's nothing much on anyway.
- I'm sure we'll be in bed by 10.
I don't know when I thought I was going to golf.
Friday, June 27, 2008
The Amazing One-Handed Parents
My husband and I are becoming experts at doing things with one hand. We have now mastered the making-a-bottle-with-crying-child in one arm; that's old hat. But we've developed one-handed expertise that we never thought about before. While I was out of town for a weekend recently, he made himself a gourmet breakfast - flipping eggs and cooking bacon - all while holding the baby in the other arm. I've loaded the washer with laundry with just the left hand, caught the remote after my husband tossed it across the room to me (this is a small miracle in itself), and picked up a pacifier from under the baby swing, all while holding E. I've gotten so good that last night my husband tossed his truck keys to me, and I instinctively raised my left hand - even though I'm a righty - and grabbed them with the skill of a professional baseball player.
Throwing things, I still need to work on, however.
Throwing things, I still need to work on, however.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The *new job* update
So I started my new job yesterday. Full-time, good pay with benefits and everything. I could not have a more different experience than what I came from! Pleasant people who communicate kindly with each other and who seem to have some fun together too. And all the tea/hot chocolate I can drink. Not a bad gig.
I am in the Creative Services Department, which means we have 3 copywriters/promotions managers and 3 graphic designers. We create materials for both sales and marketing departments so they can go to trade shows with information pieces and do their sales-y thing. We also write up email blasts and web copy. Thank God I don't have to do sales anymore. I am just not a good salesperson.
The first day was your typical day... got a temporary badge so I can access the building, turned in all the tax paperwork, direct deposit form, parking form, etc. I was also handed a bag of Company P swag (insulated lunch bag, coffee cup, mouse pad, coasters, pen/notepad, and sticky notes). Then I was shown to my cubicle, which actually is in the shape of a stretched out hexagon. The cube dividers are translucent walls and mesh, so we can all see each other and hear each other. But it gives the feeling of privacy. I have a laptop with a desktop docking station, and a large monitor. They even gave me a laptop case. I have a small table in there (about the size of an end table) that can move around for various needs. There is also a locker in my cube, so I can hang up my coat/sweater, and a little shelf for my purse. I have three big drawers and two deep shelves to put personal stuff in as well.
While I was getting settled, I realized there was a basket of homemade chocolate chip cookies on the file cabinet outside my office with a "Welcome, Shannon!" sign (note the punctuation, only copywriters do that). My boss came by and asked how I liked them, and I hadn't tried one yet, then she said she made them for me! One by one just about every person in the department came by for a cookie and to introduce themselves. Several people were out at a trade show and won't be back until next week. (There were a couple of people right off I could tell I will get along with great, and a couple of people I wasn't so sure of. They also will remain nameless.)
C, another copywriter, asked where I was from and when I said Milan, she said she was too! Through the morning we ended up exchanging emails with a couple of other "Milanites" about the high quality of the fireworks display for the 4th. C had applied for a copywriter job at the other company I used to be at, while I was there, and didn't get the job but she said she recognized me from the interview process.
So then I went and got some office supplies from the copy room, got a nickel tour of the place from my boss and saw the cafeteria/Starbucks, and then called the Help Desk so I could log into my computer. I had email already, since they started copying me on some meeting requests (there's a weekly status meeting). I responded to some of those, and to a couple of "Sorry I am not in the office, but welcome to the group!" emails. I found out there that one of the graphic designers had a baby by emergency c-section Tuesday night... apparently she named her son Indiana. Yes, that's right, like the character in the movies. Everyone's OK and she'll be back in 3-4 months. Until then we all have to step up and take over some of her work.
L, the other copywriter, sent me a lengthy email after lunch with some hyperlinks to the network drives, and some internal links to the intranet so I could explore some product descriptions and even try out some of the genealogy databases. I spent the rest of the day doing that. I tried finding some Maclarens, which I did, and my great-grandmother, which took a bit longer, but finally I did (I kept spelling her first name wrong). She was in the 1930 census in Hesperia, MI. Interesting to note that she was 39 at the time. I found out her exact date of death (August 25, 1979), which I didn't know before.
I also met with C to take over a weekly e-newsletter, which is a sales-based info piece. Gathering the content seems to be the hard part, but I think I have an idea for an incentive to get around that. Free candy bars to all, if ALL of them get their stuff in on time. It will cost me a few bucks since there are 18 people contributing, but I doubt it will happen each week. And for consecutive weeks that all of them get their stuff in on time, the incentives will get better. I don't know what I will do after that, but if we can get this going, I think it will work in the long run.
The best part of this job, the hours: 9:00-4:30!
I am in the Creative Services Department, which means we have 3 copywriters/promotions managers and 3 graphic designers. We create materials for both sales and marketing departments so they can go to trade shows with information pieces and do their sales-y thing. We also write up email blasts and web copy. Thank God I don't have to do sales anymore. I am just not a good salesperson.
The first day was your typical day... got a temporary badge so I can access the building, turned in all the tax paperwork, direct deposit form, parking form, etc. I was also handed a bag of Company P swag (insulated lunch bag, coffee cup, mouse pad, coasters, pen/notepad, and sticky notes). Then I was shown to my cubicle, which actually is in the shape of a stretched out hexagon. The cube dividers are translucent walls and mesh, so we can all see each other and hear each other. But it gives the feeling of privacy. I have a laptop with a desktop docking station, and a large monitor. They even gave me a laptop case. I have a small table in there (about the size of an end table) that can move around for various needs. There is also a locker in my cube, so I can hang up my coat/sweater, and a little shelf for my purse. I have three big drawers and two deep shelves to put personal stuff in as well.
While I was getting settled, I realized there was a basket of homemade chocolate chip cookies on the file cabinet outside my office with a "Welcome, Shannon!" sign (note the punctuation, only copywriters do that). My boss came by and asked how I liked them, and I hadn't tried one yet, then she said she made them for me! One by one just about every person in the department came by for a cookie and to introduce themselves. Several people were out at a trade show and won't be back until next week. (There were a couple of people right off I could tell I will get along with great, and a couple of people I wasn't so sure of. They also will remain nameless.)
C, another copywriter, asked where I was from and when I said Milan, she said she was too! Through the morning we ended up exchanging emails with a couple of other "Milanites" about the high quality of the fireworks display for the 4th. C had applied for a copywriter job at the other company I used to be at, while I was there, and didn't get the job but she said she recognized me from the interview process.
So then I went and got some office supplies from the copy room, got a nickel tour of the place from my boss and saw the cafeteria/Starbucks, and then called the Help Desk so I could log into my computer. I had email already, since they started copying me on some meeting requests (there's a weekly status meeting). I responded to some of those, and to a couple of "Sorry I am not in the office, but welcome to the group!" emails. I found out there that one of the graphic designers had a baby by emergency c-section Tuesday night... apparently she named her son Indiana. Yes, that's right, like the character in the movies. Everyone's OK and she'll be back in 3-4 months. Until then we all have to step up and take over some of her work.
L, the other copywriter, sent me a lengthy email after lunch with some hyperlinks to the network drives, and some internal links to the intranet so I could explore some product descriptions and even try out some of the genealogy databases. I spent the rest of the day doing that. I tried finding some Maclarens, which I did, and my great-grandmother, which took a bit longer, but finally I did (I kept spelling her first name wrong). She was in the 1930 census in Hesperia, MI. Interesting to note that she was 39 at the time. I found out her exact date of death (August 25, 1979), which I didn't know before.
I also met with C to take over a weekly e-newsletter, which is a sales-based info piece. Gathering the content seems to be the hard part, but I think I have an idea for an incentive to get around that. Free candy bars to all, if ALL of them get their stuff in on time. It will cost me a few bucks since there are 18 people contributing, but I doubt it will happen each week. And for consecutive weeks that all of them get their stuff in on time, the incentives will get better. I don't know what I will do after that, but if we can get this going, I think it will work in the long run.
The best part of this job, the hours: 9:00-4:30!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Hey, I met someone sorta famous
This past weekend we went to Loftfest, a celebration of 20 years of (our good buddy) Andy Patalan's recording studio. There were about 20 bands there on three stages throughout the night; we enjoyed several of them. But the most hilarious part of our evening was dinner beforehand, on the patio of this bar in Pontiac, where we met Bob Guiney (AKA, Bob the Bachelor from the show "The Bachelor") and hung out with our friend Terri Neely too.
Andy plays in Bob's band (the Bob Guiney Band, formerly called Fat Amy) so naturally Bob's band played at the show. The band was OK, mostly because Bob can only sing OK. Of course the guitar players were awesome. :)
So anyhoo, Bob was a really down to earth guy, quite charming and funny, and better looking than I remembered (yes, I watched the show he was on...). He brought his BIL and cousin with him to the show, and the three of them were telling stories on each other, mostly about vacations they had taken together. I wish I had a picture of the three of them because they were certainly a motley crew. But the funniest part of meeting him was that I had seen him on "The View" a few days before and I told my mom I was going to meet him. Here's the proof!
Friday, April 25, 2008
I love spring!!
Not only is this kid cute, he's smart too.
I am really enjoying spring this year, and not solely for the reason pictured here, although that is part of it. I think I am noticing things more; things that normally I wouldn't have had time to look for. I saw the tulips and daffodils bud and grow and bloom this year. It seems every day the buds on the bushes and trees are getting larger, and the lilies are growing like crazy. I am feeling the financial crunch of being partly out of work but it is nice to spend time outside these days just doing nothing, watching my dog sniff around and holding my son. And I don't feel guilty about it at all.
I am coming to the end of my SAHM days, and actually that's OK. I think if I had to spend the next year worrying about money and mostly confined to the house all day with just my son to talk to... well, my brain would go to mush in short order.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
How to know if you're watching too much TV
I've fallen asleep several times this past week with commercial jingles in my head, over and over, making me feel like I am crazy. The one that was driving me really crazy was "Activia," that sing-songy way to say the word. Then it was "588-2300, Empire" - the carpet people. But last night it was "Five dollar footloooo-ng" - the new Subway ads. You'd think with my background in advertising that I'd find it entertaining, but it's just plain annoying. I think I need to cut back on the TV watching.
Monday, April 07, 2008
A foot in two worlds
One summer when I was a kid, my grandparents took me on a trip to the U.P. of Michigan. I stood under the Mackinaw Bridge in the water, saying "Look, I'm standing in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron at the same time." I thought that was pretty cool. But now that I am a mom, a parent, someone responsible for a small person who relies on me for everything, I don't know if I like that feeling so much.
I feel like I have a split personality lately. I have been vascillating between "Ohmygosh I can't get enough of looking into his eyes and I don't want to set him down, I just want to hold him all the time, he's so awesome" and "When can I put him down and get my life back to what it was before?" Which of course, won't happen... life has changed into something else now and I can't go back. But I haven't figured out what that is yet, because I don't know. There's no plan, no guidebook, no instruction manual, no agenda.
I find myself wishing the time away. When we're up in the middle of the night, I check the clock a lot, looking to see how long he's been eating, estimate when he might be done, how long it might take to burp him and then when he might sleep... because that's when I can sleep. Then I want to skip ahead to the sleeping part, particularly if I get a chance to actually sleep in my own bed next to my husband. But then the other part of me says, "Don't wish the time away; then it will go too fast and before you know it he'll be walking and talking and telling you NO and you'll say 'where did the time go?'" I might sleep through the whole night again someday, but for now I'd appreciate one night a week where I am not interrupted and don't have a child sleeping on me. Of course, holding him with both arms while he sleeps and makes that little snoring noise, is just the best whole feeling I've ever had. It also makes me wonder what I ever did with all my free time before.
And I can't wait for the time when he is older and we can take him to do something fun like picking berries or going to a museum, but I also appreciate the portability of his size right now. I look forward to the day that he can dress himself and feed himself, and tell me what he's thinking. But I like the fact that I have some control over what he eats and wears right now, considering I don't have much control over when he eats yet or how often I have to change his clothes.
I'm straddling two worlds in several ways. I also can't wait to lose the weight I gained... although I have lost some, I'm still about 5 pounds up from the day we got married, and even then, I wanted to lose 20 pounds. I'm trying to squeeze into my old clothes, because the maternity clothes are too big. But the old clothes are still a bit small.
I want to get back to work, because I need the intellectual stimulation... but also because we have some stuff to pay off and keep payments up on. The other part of me also wants to just go to play dates with my son and drink caffeinated stuff at a cafe with other moms and chat about whatever.
After talking to a girlfriend and also my sister this weekend, I discovered that I am not alone in this feeling and that it will probably continue. I guess this whole experience of being a parent will make me learn how to react to things "on the fly" and be more flexible. At least, that's what I can hope for.
I feel like I have a split personality lately. I have been vascillating between "Ohmygosh I can't get enough of looking into his eyes and I don't want to set him down, I just want to hold him all the time, he's so awesome" and "When can I put him down and get my life back to what it was before?" Which of course, won't happen... life has changed into something else now and I can't go back. But I haven't figured out what that is yet, because I don't know. There's no plan, no guidebook, no instruction manual, no agenda.
I find myself wishing the time away. When we're up in the middle of the night, I check the clock a lot, looking to see how long he's been eating, estimate when he might be done, how long it might take to burp him and then when he might sleep... because that's when I can sleep. Then I want to skip ahead to the sleeping part, particularly if I get a chance to actually sleep in my own bed next to my husband. But then the other part of me says, "Don't wish the time away; then it will go too fast and before you know it he'll be walking and talking and telling you NO and you'll say 'where did the time go?'" I might sleep through the whole night again someday, but for now I'd appreciate one night a week where I am not interrupted and don't have a child sleeping on me. Of course, holding him with both arms while he sleeps and makes that little snoring noise, is just the best whole feeling I've ever had. It also makes me wonder what I ever did with all my free time before.
And I can't wait for the time when he is older and we can take him to do something fun like picking berries or going to a museum, but I also appreciate the portability of his size right now. I look forward to the day that he can dress himself and feed himself, and tell me what he's thinking. But I like the fact that I have some control over what he eats and wears right now, considering I don't have much control over when he eats yet or how often I have to change his clothes.
I'm straddling two worlds in several ways. I also can't wait to lose the weight I gained... although I have lost some, I'm still about 5 pounds up from the day we got married, and even then, I wanted to lose 20 pounds. I'm trying to squeeze into my old clothes, because the maternity clothes are too big. But the old clothes are still a bit small.
I want to get back to work, because I need the intellectual stimulation... but also because we have some stuff to pay off and keep payments up on. The other part of me also wants to just go to play dates with my son and drink caffeinated stuff at a cafe with other moms and chat about whatever.
After talking to a girlfriend and also my sister this weekend, I discovered that I am not alone in this feeling and that it will probably continue. I guess this whole experience of being a parent will make me learn how to react to things "on the fly" and be more flexible. At least, that's what I can hope for.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Sliding into motherhood
I've been composing this post in my head for a couple of weeks now.
-------------
Tomorrow will mark three weeks since I had a baby. It was not supposed to happen the way it did, emergency C-section and all, but everyone is OK and that's all that really matters. Because our son (still weird to say that) was 6 weeks premature, he has been in the NICU since birth. We've been visiting every day, sometimes twice. At first I had to be wheeled in to the hospital and up to the unit because of my surgery and high blood pressure, and because I was utterly exhausted from healing up. Everyone is saying, you're sort of lucky that you get this time to heal up, otherwise you'd be healing up and taking care of a newborn. I guess it's true. I do feel better than I did three weeks ago but I also am not sure about this time being an advantage over other people's experiences.
I think my husband said it best: Most people have a couple of days of excitement around the time of a new baby being born, particularly their first. Then they bring the baby home and all that excited feeling turns into nervous feeling. Doubting one's ability to take care of this squalling few pounds of person that you love more than anything even though you know nothing about them. It's all a guessing game - Why is the baby crying? Diaper? needs to be held? gas? tired and doesn't want to sleep? scared of a noise? And it's up to you to figure it out and solve the problem ASAP.
We've now had three weeks of up and down and back up again, while we watch our little guy go from an isolette to a little crib, and cross our fingers each time he got to a feeding. At first I wasn't sure I was bonding or connecting with him, but that went away as soon as I was able to nurse. I even say to myself each time I have to sit down and express milk on the dreaded pump: "This is for Ethan," and it doesn't hurt as much. One night last week as I sat holding him, waiting for Scott to arrive at the hospital, I looked at Ethan's little relaxed sleeping face and just about burst into tears, from the sudden rush of love I had for this little guy. As I was telling Scott, I love him simply because he's here, on this earth, not because I know anything about his personality to love, like I would normally for an adult I would meet.
Last night he was circumcised and it just about tore my heart out to hear him wailing ... I felt completely inept. But finally he was soothed and took some food, then collapsed into a limp sleep on Scott's lap.
I've been referring to my parents as mom and dad for 37 years... but now they are grandma and grandpa and I am the mom, Scott is the dad... I need to retrain the brain into using these labels. I also have to remember that there is help when I need it, and to ask for it. I am not good at that, so I will have to work on that too.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
I can't make this stuff up
So I am sitting in the teeny tiny coffee shop here in Milan, The Lighthouse Cafe, finishing up that newsletter copy that is now overdue... Scott is painting the baby's room so I can't be around the fumes for a few hours. When I got here at 9 a.m., there were just three other people here. I figured that would be it, since it's like 2 degrees out today, with gale force winds.
But more have wandered in here since, including a woman I assumed either had Alzheimers or wasn't all there... I mean, you can tell something's just off with her. Big thick Coke bottle glasses, shuffles when she walks, and has the worst hat hair I've ever seen. Wearing an old cardigan sweater and sweatpants, with thick socks and beat up sneakers. She seems to be a regular because she was chatting a while with the owner (at least the guy I assume to be the owner) about it being OK to "practice." No idea what she's talking about.
Of course, I'm all comfy here in the corner on a fairly nice couch with a pillow behind me, laptop on what lap I have left, and I didn't even notice the piano in front of me until she sat down at it. She propped up what seems to be a beginner piano book, and starts playing "How Much is That Doggie in the Window," then "Amazing Grace," "On Top of Spaghetti," "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" and few other short pieces. The guys behind the counter both encouraged her after almost every song at first, and she just waved them off, smiling a little. Real basic, playing slowly but not too badly; she's definitely not any better than I am on piano. But she's got the cohones to sit in a public place and practice, which I don't! I don't even like to practice in private, because I can't stand to hear myself screw up the music like I do. She is talking to herself as she practices, griping about having to turn the page in the middle of a song, and making comments like, "Oh I see, it's a flat..."
I think the piano playing is annoying to the people at the booth next to me, three yuppie-type young people who are chatting about either homework or a business plan... they keep looking over at her with raised eyebrows and singing along sort of condescendingly. The guy sitting at the table looks EXACTLY like a guy that used to date a suitemate/roommate of mine at EMU, I remember her name being Allison (but we frequently just called her bitch because she NEVER cleaned the bathroom and was having loud sex all the time with whoever would sleep with her). She was in the band at EMU and played clarinet, I think. I am tempted to go over and ask him if he ever dated anyone named Allison, but he looks so young, I don't know if it could be him. I have no clue what his name was... I do remember him being a nice guy though.
But more have wandered in here since, including a woman I assumed either had Alzheimers or wasn't all there... I mean, you can tell something's just off with her. Big thick Coke bottle glasses, shuffles when she walks, and has the worst hat hair I've ever seen. Wearing an old cardigan sweater and sweatpants, with thick socks and beat up sneakers. She seems to be a regular because she was chatting a while with the owner (at least the guy I assume to be the owner) about it being OK to "practice." No idea what she's talking about.
Of course, I'm all comfy here in the corner on a fairly nice couch with a pillow behind me, laptop on what lap I have left, and I didn't even notice the piano in front of me until she sat down at it. She propped up what seems to be a beginner piano book, and starts playing "How Much is That Doggie in the Window," then "Amazing Grace," "On Top of Spaghetti," "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" and few other short pieces. The guys behind the counter both encouraged her after almost every song at first, and she just waved them off, smiling a little. Real basic, playing slowly but not too badly; she's definitely not any better than I am on piano. But she's got the cohones to sit in a public place and practice, which I don't! I don't even like to practice in private, because I can't stand to hear myself screw up the music like I do. She is talking to herself as she practices, griping about having to turn the page in the middle of a song, and making comments like, "Oh I see, it's a flat..."
I think the piano playing is annoying to the people at the booth next to me, three yuppie-type young people who are chatting about either homework or a business plan... they keep looking over at her with raised eyebrows and singing along sort of condescendingly. The guy sitting at the table looks EXACTLY like a guy that used to date a suitemate/roommate of mine at EMU, I remember her name being Allison (but we frequently just called her bitch because she NEVER cleaned the bathroom and was having loud sex all the time with whoever would sleep with her). She was in the band at EMU and played clarinet, I think. I am tempted to go over and ask him if he ever dated anyone named Allison, but he looks so young, I don't know if it could be him. I have no clue what his name was... I do remember him being a nice guy though.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Women's National Book Association
Did I mention I've taken on just one more volunteer thing? I'm now the editor for the national newsletter, Bookwoman, which is part of the Women's National Book Association. I'm in the process of doing reminders to everyone to get me their chapter news and announcements before the end of this month... but of course I'm behind in the assignments I have for myself. A whole folder full of stuff arrived from the former editor that I still need to review, I committed to four separate long articles for the main body of the newsletter, and although they are drafted, they're certainly not done.
My parents are coming to visit this weekend so I won't get much done then. And that leaves just a few days between now and the end of the month. Next month we have baby birthing class on Tuesday nights and yoga continues on Wednesdays... so it's time for time-organizing again. I hate that. But it's pretty necessary.
My parents are coming to visit this weekend so I won't get much done then. And that leaves just a few days between now and the end of the month. Next month we have baby birthing class on Tuesday nights and yoga continues on Wednesdays... so it's time for time-organizing again. I hate that. But it's pretty necessary.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Baby, baby!
I have really tried to make an effort not to be the whiny pregnant girl... but today I'm having some of those round ligament pains - both sides of my stomach - and the back is hurting pretty good too. It makes me tired. I took some Tylenol - also something I am trying to avoid - but it just took the edge off the ligament pains and did nothing for the back. And it made me more tired. So now we're home from yet another family Christmas, which was fun, but we had to be the party poopers because I just couldn't take the discomfort.
We've also started readying the baby room, in earnest. I took out two more tubs of clothes from the room and another bag for the Goodwill. Tubs go downstairs with the many others that are already there. Then the bookcase in the living room was emptied out, and moved into baby's room. My desk will move to the other side of the living room at some point, and boxes of books, videos and CDs will go, guess where, yup... the basement. A pile of books will also find a new home at the Milan library. Scott calls it making the house "lean." It's definitely less cluttery.
Plans for doing the baby registry at Target and/or Babies R Us are set for next weekend. I am trying to get together with my friend Kim to get a list of invitees for one of the baby showers...and we both want to do some baby clothes shopping at a couple of the boutique-y type places in Ann Arbor.
Pretty overwhelming to think there will soon be another person living here, someone who can't do anything for themselves, relying solely on us for all the things they need. Dudley is sort of like that but we don't have to spend half an hour feeding him or dressing or bathing him ... we have a lot of adjusting to do.
We've also started readying the baby room, in earnest. I took out two more tubs of clothes from the room and another bag for the Goodwill. Tubs go downstairs with the many others that are already there. Then the bookcase in the living room was emptied out, and moved into baby's room. My desk will move to the other side of the living room at some point, and boxes of books, videos and CDs will go, guess where, yup... the basement. A pile of books will also find a new home at the Milan library. Scott calls it making the house "lean." It's definitely less cluttery.
Plans for doing the baby registry at Target and/or Babies R Us are set for next weekend. I am trying to get together with my friend Kim to get a list of invitees for one of the baby showers...and we both want to do some baby clothes shopping at a couple of the boutique-y type places in Ann Arbor.
Pretty overwhelming to think there will soon be another person living here, someone who can't do anything for themselves, relying solely on us for all the things they need. Dudley is sort of like that but we don't have to spend half an hour feeding him or dressing or bathing him ... we have a lot of adjusting to do.
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