Random Musings...
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
- Can't believe tomorrow is December. Where did the year go?
I'm here watching the very exciting MSU Duke game. My loudest cheer, however, came when they were talking about the "impressive Davidson team." Hell yeah! :)
Andrew went with Kim's husband Brent to the Gator game now against A&M. I was watching the score ticker on ESPN, and we killed 'em! The game ended, so they should be home soon. I think it's cute that it started out with Kim and I as friends trying to get our guys together, and now they hang out as much as she and I do!
I just downloaded a Yahoo game, so off to play while hubby comes home!
Posted at 9:45 PM
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- Hey all. I got up this morning, took a shower, and then crawled right back into bed. I proceeded to sleep until 11am! I felt so miserable! I've actually felt off since Friday, but chose to ignore it because I always think I'm coming down with something. This morning, I just couldn't convince myself to get to work. Unfortunately, I'm here now, and I've been doing tons of work. They're also doing some horrible shop vac or something in the vents, and it's so freakin' loud it's driving me insane. Ugh!
Anyway, I think I'm going to make myself a hair appointment. Maybe they'll have something for this weekend. I feel so boring lately. I want something cute. One of my friends got the most amazing haircut a few months ago, so I'm following her recommendation. Hopefully I can get something nice.
Posted at 1:59 PM
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Monday, November 29, 2004
- I'm on a mission to find new jeans. I HATE jean shopping, though. It's so hard to find anything that fits me right. I got jealous of John's girlfriend's jeans over the weekend. I was tempted to ask her what kind they were, but I didn't feel like having her give me the whole background to every pair of jeans she ever bought, so I didn't. What I'm trying to do is see which brands look good on the internet and then find the store that carries them so I can go directly there to minimize shopping and anguish time. However, I'm finding that all the models have the same, no-ass, rail look. Completely different shape than me! I have no way of knowing if these jeans would look right on me. I mean, look at this assortment of shapes! Geez. Even looking at J.Lo and Baby Phat Jeans, you'd think you'd see some booty and some hips! Hell, even the Tommy Hilfiger "Woman," which I suppose means plus size. Indeed, the sizes start at 14, but look at this picture!! How is that a plus-size? I don't get the selection of models at all. I mean, even throwing out all the stuff about what it does to everyone's self-esteem, society, etc., etc., I just don't see how it's practical. How does it give any potential customer any idea of what it will actually look like? Might as well save money on the model and just have a picture of it on a hanger. Seriously. I get that they want to make the jeans look as attractive and desirable as possible, but I don't get how that look is considered the best look. What happened to the models that had shape?
Posted at 4:00 PM
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- One of our grad students who was pregnant just had her baby this weekend. The problem...he wasn't due until March. She got toxemia, and he was born at one and a half pounds. :( So sad. Hopefully they'll make it through alright.
Posted at 10:55 AM
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- Latest inspiration, Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill...
So I went from day to day
Though my life was in a rut
Until I thought of what I’d say
Which connection I should cut
I was feeling part of the scenery
I walked right out of the machinery
My heart was going boom boom boom
Hey, he said, grab your things, I’ve come to take you home
Posted at 10:21 AM
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- Had a wonderful break, but just got back to news that one of the guys I knew in high school was killed by a drunk driver on Thanksgiving day. Not great news to come home to. What a terrible, terrible waste. Makes me sick.
But BESIDES that...
I had a great time up in NC. We got there in time for dinner on Wednesday. I helped out with cooking the big Thanksgiving feast pretty much all day on Thursday, but it was fun. We went to visit one of Andrew's friends who was recently married up in Winston-Salem. Besides that, easy going. Just hanging out.
We also met John's girlfriend. His parents are getting the idea that it's very serious. She was a very nice girl, but good God did I find her annoying. I really, really hope she is NOT my future sister-in-law. She is so loud and talkative, it drove me insane. It was nearly impossible to even have a conversation with her because she would just talk and talk. Also, she was such a kiss up to Andrew's parents. So deliberate and over the top about offering help every five minutes. She was very bossy, and John was constantly getting her things. Not just a drink from the kitchen or whatever, but she got a craving for tater tots one night, so he had to get up and go put some in the oven for her. Just weird.
At first, I liked her because she was really outgoing and friendly, but eventually, it was just too much, and she was there THE ENTIRE TIME. When she first started getting on my nerves, I thought it was maybe my own insecurities about having someone competing with me for the favorite daughter-in-law slot. I checked with Andrew, and he said he was also overwhelmed by her. I found out that his parents were also getting annoyed by her. Hmmm. We'll see what happens with her. Honestly, you can tell she is a great person, and John seems very happy. But man, is she ever annoying! Sheesh!
I got some pics up from our visit, but I have a couple more to put up still. It was so beautiful while we were there! The pretty fall leaves were mostly gone, though there were a few patches left here and there. But the skies were bright blue, and the air was nice and crisp. I always remember why I love that place so much every time I go back to visit.
Oh, and also, my godson is the cutest baby boy there ever was. Seriously. Check this picture out. I got a whole slew of new pictures from Thanksgiving, including this great one of the family. I decided to make a whole album for just his pictures, so browse around and see the cuteness that is Robert Matthew!
Posted at 9:02 AM
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Wednesday, November 24, 2004
- Got the call! Hubby's on his way, so we're out. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Posted at 1:48 PM
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- I went to Wendy's yesterday, and noticed a sign I hadn't seen last week. It read, "Due to the recent hurricanes in Florida and other areas, there is a shortage in the supply of tomatoes. They will be added by request only, if available." Is this something going on just here in Florida, or nationwide? I know we create a lot of produce here, but I didn't think it would decimate the national supply of tomatoes to the extent of there being a crisis. The biggest newsmaker here were the oranges, obviously, but I just figured it would only make them more expensive. Has anyone else seen similar signs elsewhere?
Posted at 1:30 PM
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- Just have to survive a couple more hours until I get out of here! Yay!
While we're up there, we're going to be meeting Andrew's brother's new girlfriend. Andrew's parents have a feeling it may be very serious, so I may be meeting my future sister-in-law. Of course, I thought I already met my future sister-in-law two years ago when we met his girlfriend of two and a half years. I'm kind of glad things didn't work out, because she kind of rubbed me the wrong way. She ended up showing her true colors by the very ungraceful way she decided to break up. Anyway, Andrew's parents love this new girl, and she's over at their place all of the time. We'll see if she meets my seal of approval! ;)
It's bad that I'm already hungry!
Posted at 8:56 AM
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Tuesday, November 23, 2004
- I went to visit my coworker sho is battling breast cancer. It was a very surreal, yet enlightening experience. Two of my great-aunts (my grandmothers sisters) had breast cancer sometimes before or around the time I was born, and they had complete mastectomies and are still here today. One of my neighbors with three children lost a battle with breast cancer when I was in high school. My mom went over every other day with some homemade soup for her, but I never saw her. I don't think anyone is untouched by breast cancer in some way, but last night was my first direct experience with someone I know well.
She hasn't started chemo or radiation treatments yet, but she has had two surgeries. One to remove the cancerous part of her left breast, and the other to remove an area under her arm with some lymph nodes where some of the cancer had spread. The first thing I noticed about her was that her left arm and shoulder were stiff. She looked a bit run down, but otherwise, not terribly sick. Just a bit slow as you'd expect to find someone recovering from surgeries performed just two weeks earlier. She told me, "The cancer didn't bother me at all. It's been all this treatment, and the worst is yet to come."
There are four stages to cancer, I-IV. Four is the worst. She is in Stage IIB. She said she was nearly declared a Stage III, but the second surgery was more successful than they had anticipated. She was glad, because the survival rates of each stage get progressively worse and worse, and Stage III is considered "late stage."
The surgery under her arm is the hardest one to recover from. By removing parts of that area, there is unavoidable nerve damage to the arm. In addition to the chemotherapy and radiation that she will begin in a week or two, she is going to go to physical therapy so she doesn't lose function of the arm. Right now, obviously, she has a very difficult time using it at all. She said that for the rest of her life, she is going to have to work on that arm and protect it from everything since she will be more prone to lymphedema. She can not even allow herself to get a mosquito bite or light sunburn on that arm. She will also need to wear a compression sleeve.
I learned a lot about breast cancer in the hour or so that I spent talking with her. It was so surreal to see this woman I know and work with, only in her very early 40's, talking about survival, life or death. She has a good attitude and is young. When I first heard she was diagnosed, I felt bad for her, but the question or life or death didn't even really enter my mind for some stupid reason. I just couldn't picture someone like that dying. I mean, people beat cancer every day. Which isn't to say that I'm pessimistic about her outlook now all of a sudden. I still think she can make it, but the real picture in front of her is not so rosey. Fortunately, the breast cancer center here has one of the highest survival rates in the country, so she is getting excellent care.
But cancer is vicious. It was frightening to see it with my own two eyes hiding beneath the skin of a friend. At one point during my stay, my mind wandered to the cancer, the actual cancer. As we were talking about work, I thought about how I was in the same room with such a deadly force. Such a silent force. I looked in her eyes, and felt helpless. One of us has cancer, the other doesn't. I imagined if I was on the flip side looking at me, how I'd feel knowing I could point to where the cancer is on my own body, to trace the scars on my breast, and to feel the cutting pain as she was. I thought about how trapped I'd feel. Because of one small piece of my flesh, everything I am can be destroyed. I'd feel like jumping out of my body. I'd feel so helpless sitting next to someone who didn't have cancer. I'd want to scream knowing that everywhere I walked, the cancer followed me. No matter how fast you can run, it's still with you. No matter how much you daydream and forget about things for a while, it is still there attached to you and growing. I'd want to hack out chunks of myself too. I'd want to nuke it with radiation too. I'd allow myself to be poisoned by chemotherapy too if it meant I could kill what is trying to kill me.
It was quite an experience for me. Disturbing, informative, and inspiring all at the same time. I came home and called my mom, just to tell her to get mammograms. Breast cancer isn't the only cancer out there, but it is one that is easy to screen routinely. Early detection is the key. Cervical cancer used to be terribly deadly until it became customary to perform yearly pap smears. The mortality rate has dropped dramatically since then. Mammograms can offer the same, as well as prostate exams, etc., etc., etc. These need to be done. It's hard to believe in your own death, but I got a glimpse of it yesterday in someone else's eyes. It's terrifying. I don't deserve it, and no one around me deserves it to happen to me either.
Posted at 8:41 AM
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Monday, November 22, 2004
- How stupid am I for getting little goosebumps and feeling all fuzzy reading today's Alligator recounting Saturday night's heroics at FSU?? I'm joining the mindless mass outcry now to rehire Zook.
I'm on my way to Olive Garden now to pick up dinner for a coworker (not one of the office bitches!!) who is battling breast cancer. :( It has spread into her lymph nodes, so the outcome is pretty uncertain. It seems unreal. Anyway, I volunteered to bring her dinner a couple of times for the rest of the year. I wonder how she looks. I haven't seen her in two months now.
Posted at 4:48 PM
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- I'm so friggin hungry it's ridiculous. I'm not even stomach-growling, shaky-feeling hungry. I'm just plain ol' I-want-to-shove-a-truckload-of-delicious-food-into-my mouth kind of hungry. I just placed an order for delivery from the Cuban cafeteria, and so much sounded so good that I actually ordered it all. I got a beef empanada, a cheese empanada, an order of arepas, an order of amarillos, and an order of black beans and rice. I'm going to be hurting when I'm done, but I don't care! I want food and I want it now!!
Posted at 1:28 PM
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- Every Monday, I come up with some creative way to motivate me into thinking this new week won't be so bad. This week: I only have to make it until early Wednesday afternoon before we head up to beautiful Carolina. It'll be sunny and 50's for most of the week, which sounds great to me, even though I definitely can't complain about our weather lately.
Friday night, we went over to Brent and Kim's for dinner. There were supposed to be two other couples there, but the flaked out, as they seem to do frequently. It almost always ends up to be Brent and Kim with us two! They're wonderful, and we had a great time...until Andrew and Brent started playing Halo. At first, I was all supportive, following along, congratualting my hubby on good kills, cool guns, etc. It soon turned to just Kim and I talking about anything and everything, until we finally ended up both falling asleep on the couch!! Those boys played for HOURS! UGH! I was seriously considering off and on getting Andrew a PS2, but I really don't think I will now! There was no pulling them away. He plays with his PS1 pretty often, but it's not so bad. I did get him three new games for it for Christmas, so I'm not completely fighting it!
Saturday I did most of our Christmas shopping while Andrew was counseling a group of parents at a camp for kids with Spina Bifida. Thanksgiving suddenly snuck up on me! Since we're going up to NC, we had decided that it would be great to just bring up all of our Christmas presents for Andrew's family so we wouldn't have to ship any of it. Well, that was a perfect plan until I only remembered a few days before! But we pretty much have everything. His mom maybe needs one more thing since her birthday is also between now and Christmas. Hopefully we are able to get something tonight or tomorrow. I have most of my stuff bought for everyone except for my parents, who are IMPOSSIBLE to buy for. Seriously. With my mom being the shopoholic that she is, if they don't own something, it's because they didn't want it. I have wasted so much money over the years in gifts that they shove in the back of their closets never again to see the light of day. It's so frustrating!
Saturday night, we watched the Florida-Florida State game, and it was AWESOME!!! I could tell in the first quarter that we were outplaying them! It was so exciting. I got worried in the second half when our guys kept committing stupid, stupid penalties, but they held on. Andrew and I were elated! I felt happy for ol' Zook, too, as he was carried on the shoulders of his now-former team.
Yesterday was mostly spent cleaning. One of Andrew's best friends from since he was five came to visit us for dinner with his girlfriend. Actually, um, it's an interesting sitation. They are actually both married to other people. He's the one who got married about a year after we did to this horrible troll of a girl that EVERYONE warned him against. Even his groomsmen were trying to talk him out of it the night the wedding. I had only met her once, and even I could tell instantly that she was a horrible, horrible person. Well, we weren't so surprised, obviously, when he gave us the news in August that they were splitting up. So, while filing for the separation and all that, he met this other girl who was going through the same thing. So, they've been together now a couple of months, but are already vacationing . What a tricky, tricky situation it is, though, with them both being married. It felt a little weird too, to see them as a cute couple and remember suddenly that there is a spouse somewhere who has no idea where they are right now! She was really wonderful, though. They make a good couple. Hopefully things will get resolved smoothly so that they can figure things out.
I'm so thankful for my relationship with Andrew. Honestly, I am always aware of how good I have it, but situations like that just remind me exactly how lucky I am. They were talking about everything they are going through with divorce and all that. It's awful!
Ok, it's taken me about an hour to write this thing! Time to post!
Posted at 10:45 AM
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Friday, November 19, 2004
- This stupid job was nearly the end of my yesterday. Not only did I have a bratty student try to put me in my place, but Bitch Prof has been all over my back over the past week leading up to opening night of her show last night. Of course, HER show is THE most important one we do all year, right? I haven't had to lift a finger in terms of publicity ever since the job I wanted was handed over to some students for slave labor.
Well, of course, HER show has publicity needs well above all other shows this semester. She comes to me on MONDAY (just four days before the show opens) and asked me to do a mass email campaign for her. I actually got a graphic file from the poster designer, merged it with the press release the students wrote, and sent it to several listserves and a whole bunch of different people. All in all, it went out to about 600-700 addresses.
Also, she had so many students from her classes that she got to hang posters for her that we ran out of the entire order by the end of the day. She then started telling me all these places she wanted me to send posters and was horrified when I told her there were none left. "Well, you need to do something about it then! Make fliers or something!" Ok. So I took the graphic and created a flier and made 300 copies to distribute as she wanted.
Then she was upset that there was nothing in the newspaper, even though the students had sent them a press release like every other show. I actually had to compose an ad within half an hour and beg them to squeeze it in to Fridays paper even though the deadline had passed the week before. I talked to the woman I talk to for the ads I do for the community theatre to see what she could do, and I got it in. Go me. We haven't done a paid advertisement in well over a year for anything!
She's had me calling the box office every day to see what the ticket totals are, and since they are not sold out, it must mean that it's publicity's fault.
The most recent act of lunacy came yesterday. Yesterday, opening day of the show. She called me at 3pm and asked me to email her and another person the press release for the show. I told her that she should have already received a copy of it, the text that came together with the graphic that was mass emailed. "THAT'S NOT A PRESS RELEASE!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??" she exclaims. Apparently, she did not care for the job the publicity students had done. She then proceeds to instruct me to write a full, elaborate press release and to email it ASAP to her and to the newly hired full-time publicity person at the College level so that the publicity job could be done right. Umm...huh??? She starts telling me all of this flowery, descriptive language that she wants included in it, all these different biographies that she wanted included, etc. So I crank out a two page press release in about 45 minutes and email it away. I then receive a call from the publicity woman who asks me who I've already sent anything to so we don't duplicate the effort. I told her all of my sources for the initial mass email, etc., and then she pauses for a minute and finally goes, "Ok. So I'm unclear what I'm supposed to do with this now since you've already done all that and we're an hour away from the end of business on opening day." Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. Absolutely ridiculous. This morning, I come in to find this email sent to Bitch Prof and cc'd to me from the publicity woman:
Dear Joan,
Rosalie Preston sent the attached press release. Since she and her grad students had already done a good job of publcity this past week, I saw no reason to reinvent the wheel. I sent her new release out as a media alert, which is often used to remind assignment editors that a good photo/interview opportunity is upon them. I e-mailed it to the assignment editors of the Independent Florida Aliigator, the gainesville Sun's Scene Magazine, WUFT, the marquee coordinator at UF, the Mahogany Revue, and FOX 51.
I hope this helps... but do know that all of the credit goes to Rosalie.
Take that, bitch. This woman with a friggin' masters in publicity who got the job I didn't get and gets paid twice what I do said there was hardly anything more I could have done despite her cries that publicity for her precious show was inadequate. And what do I get for all this? Nothing. I had to deal with all this publicity for this stupid show in addition to all the regular shit I put up with (like students using my desk and then attempting to reprimand me for not treating them like royalty). If it wasn't for the paycheck I get every two weeks, this job would have been loooooooong shoved up several asses around here. Honestly, it's ridiculous.
Ok, believe it or not, I did not start off this post with the intention of going off like that. Can you tell I'm just slightly bothered by it?
So, all of this is just fuel to get into this scary prospect of starting my own business. Last night I ordered a catalog and demo video from a company that looks pretty promising. I'm going to be calling two or three more today for the same. In the mean time, I continue to experiment with the chemical set. I am determined to do this one way or another. I just have to figure out how. I need to respect myself enough to remove myself from this current, degrading environment and not allow myself to be limited by others. Going on my own is the only answer for me I see.
Update:
Bitch Prof just called. Not even a thank you. If she hasn't read the email yet, not even a "How did it go yesterday?" No, instead I got, "We're having a reception tomorrow night, so can you make sure the kitchen and atrium spaces are clean?" OK, apparently I am a secretary that doubles not only as a PR person, but also as a janitor as the need arises.
Posted at 9:15 AM
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Thursday, November 18, 2004
- Here's a fun one. I need to come up with a company name. I've only ever casually thought about it, but I really need to come up with one so I can begin the paperwork. Andrew and I came up with "Lucky Pants Productions," which I LOVE (we call Lucky Lucky Pants more often than not), but I don't know if it's too silly of a name. At some point in my life, it is my goal to have a company called Lucky Pants Productions, though!! I want to make a cartoon drawing of Lucky and make it my logo.
So, there's that, and then the standard Rosalie Designs, etc. I think my name works pretty well in a company name since it's different, but not weird. I thought Rosalie Glass and Gifts by Rosalie, but I think those names might be limiting if I want to expand the kind of products I could offer.
Of course, a lot depends on how I decide to register my company. I may register as a corporation, Lucky Pants Productions, and then have Gifts by Rosalie or whatever as a subdivision. Then, if I wanted to do branch out into new areas, I just set up a new company with a different name.
Hmmm...so any ideas? I need to do some brainstorming.
Posted at 2:11 PM
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- I came back to my desk from lunch to find a student helping herself to my stapler. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that she was also using my precious Sharpie to write a note to a teacher on my nice letterhead memo pad! She needed the stapler because she used three whole sheets of it since the Sharpie writes so big and also bled through so she couldn't write on both sides. I must have looked at her being very obvious about how I felt at this spectacle, because she was like, "Did I do something wrong, I just needed a pen." I pointed out that we have a pen right there at the front of the desk and she did not need to go into my drawers. She was all offended. Ummm...ok. Wow.
UPDATE about 45 minutes later:
Umm...ok. The girl actually came back and said that she just wanted me to know that she was very hurt by the way I treated her and she expects people to treat her civilly. Huh??? I told her that I don't appreciate people going through my desk and using my supplies. She still came back and said, "Well, I just think it was very rude, and it hurt my feelings." "I apologize for that," I said. She still went on and said, "I don't expect to be treated that way." Ok, that was it. She got one stupid apology out of me that she didn't deserve, so there was nothing left for me to say. I just nodded until she walked away. I wanted to just GO OFF on her. Oh well. If she goes and complains to someone, I could care less. I'd like to see her try to explain to someone that my looking at her funny for going into my desk was out of line. Actually, I'd welcome her complaining to someone so that the higher-ups see the kind of crap I put up with.
Posted at 1:40 PM
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Posted at 11:47 AM
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- Last night while Andrew was studying for a test, I decided to do research on the specific equipment I may need to start this business. My original plan, which I may still stick to, is to start off with chemical stenciling, which is super easy. The equipment to make the stencils is only a few hundred dollars, and the additional items I would need are the chemicals, the film to make the stencils, and the objects I will be etching themselves. While I was generally pleased with the results, they are not quite as elegant as etchings using blasting equipment. With the chemicals, you get a more subtle, white frosted look. With blasting, you get more texture and more dramatic looks.
The downside is that the equipment to do the blasting is quite large and expensive. The advantage of the chemical stencils is that I can create them on the computer and it creates them automatically. With blasting, many of the stencils are hand carved and are not reusable, meaning it'd be difficult to reproduce the same item over and over, for example, if someone ordered a dozen monogrammed glasses. There is equipment that can create stencils that can be printed out like the chemical stencils, but all the equipment together with the various components needed for the specialized blasting gets into the thousands of dollars. My parents said they are willing to give me a loan to get me started with that equipment, but it's a rather big committment. They take up so much room that I'd have to rent a studio somewhere. I'm also a bit intimidated by all of the technical mumbu jumbo the various companies use to talk about these machines. I was researching forever last night and a lot of the time it would take me half an hour of looking into a single product to figure out if it could even do the specific things I wanted it to do.
So, I'm unsure where to go from here. I may be getting in way over my head jumping into these industrial machines, but maybe I should start things off the right way and get a reputation for high quality from the get go. I don't know. It's all so intimidating. It's a wonder anyone starts their own business with all of the considerations one has to make. I thought all about the type of products I want to make, the marketing, the accounting, etc., etc., but the production aspect is a lot trickier. I know nothing of these machines. The chemical was super easy, but maybe too easy? I don't know. I'll work a few more items, take pictures of them, and see what others think of the final product. If they look cheap, it's worth learning how to work these things.
Posted at 9:38 AM
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Wednesday, November 17, 2004
- Check out Christina's project on helping out our soliders: http://mysoldierproject.blogspot.com Great idea!
Of course, the week I finally decide for sure I want to jump into starting a new business, I have a ton of work to do and don't have the time to research it all. Just two weeks ago I was sitting here staring at the wall thinking I reached the end of the internet. Now that there are all these things I want to look up, I'm swamped!
Posted at 2:15 PM
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- It seems as though I might be able to afford to work part time instead of full time in a few months. I need to crunch the numbers, but that may work out, especially once my business gets rolling. *knock on wood* After feeling so depressed and trapped for so long, all of a sudden all these little pieces are falling into place that are showing me a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Of course, I feel that way every few months, only to come crashing down, but these delusions are the only thing that make this job tolerable, so I'll indulge.
Posted at 10:55 AM
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- Sometimes I find myself REALLY wanting a baby, and sometimes I am really glad I have an excuse to put it off. I've been calling my cousin Jennifer a lot lately, and of course, the conversation always turns to little Robert. He is so darn cute I can't stand it. He is just such a great little baby. It is almost surreal that the girl I grew up with my whole life has a baby. I mean, I remember us as practically babies! She's only 9 months older than me (my mom claims I was conceived the night she was born...interesting), so we were always very close. It makes me tear up to think of her as a mother...and to such a beautiful and wonderful baby! Her choosing me to be his godmother is such an honor to me, and I love that child so much I can't accept anyone correcting me when I call him my nephew.
However...everytime I call, all I hear is constant baby noise in the background. Most of the time it's cute, but every few minutes it turns to some sort of whine she needs to tend to. Last night, the conversation ended with him full out crying and she had to go. Plus, she's telling me of all these things that he's getting into now that he's crawling around and all these things that he's staining with food and drink. Having a baby seems just like such a complete takeover and it's constant. I haven't seen her since February without him. I haven't called her since February without hearing him. She doesn't have any new stories since February that don't revolve around him. She, of course, loves every minute of it (except when he started pulling her hair last night), but really, I don't feel ready for that kind of commitment. I like being able to declare I'm lazy every now and then and do nothing but lay on the couch. I like being able to go out with friends when I feel like it. I like that I can leave things lying around because not even my faithful hound will mess with anything. I like that the only spills in my house have been party fouls. It's a lot of freedom to give up, and I'm not ready for that. It's hard to picture a day when I will be. I know it'll happen, though. Just not sure when. Maybe that's something I won't come to terms with until the third trimester!
Anyway, all this talk is for nothing. Like I said, I have a real excuse to put it off. But really, the clock ticks a lot faster than you realize. We always said we'd start trying during his internship year or toward the end of his last year. That's in less than a year and a half away. That's a whole lot of maturing that needs to happen in the next two years!
But for now, my next few months got crazier due to this little guy...
Nov 24-28, North Carolina for Thanksgiving
Dec 22-28, Venezuela for Christmas
Dec 28-29, Puerto Rico for the baptism
Dec 29-Jan 2, North Carolina for New Years
Craziness!
Posted at 8:50 AM
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Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Posted at 9:39 PM
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- OK, so I typed out a whole long thing yesterday about my business idea, and it all disappeared when I tried to post it. Hopefully I can actually get it up here this time.
So I kept thinking about the glass painting idea, but I didn't feel fully confident with it. There were many concerns, primarily the idea that there isn't as big of a market for that kind of thing. I don't know, I just wasn't seeing how I was going to be able to make the kind of profit I wanted to make. So I kept thinking and thinking of a way to improve the idea. I browsed the internet for various ideas until I finally hit something.
Building and improving on my original idea, I have decided that rather than painting, I will be etching glass. Though I plan to do some decorative and artistic things, what I see the main business aspect to be is in custom and personalized work. For example, champagne flutes for weddings, glasses for bar mitvahs, candleholders for baptisms, and many, many more personalized items for various occassions. Also, I'd branch out into area of doing custom work for businesses using logos, doing convention work, etc. I sat and talked to my parents about it for a while on Sunday. At first, they were relatively open to the idea, but as time went on, we kept coming up with more and more ideas that kept coming so fast, we all ended up so excited. They are extremely enthusiastic about this idea, even my dad who is the shrewd businessman. He really liked the aspect of doing custom work for businesses.
There are several different ways to etch glass, some more difficult than others, some more expensive than others. The way I've decided to start is using stencils and chemicals. This is the best way to produce a relatively large quantity of the same item consistently. Most true artists use sandblasting and small drills, but I would not be able to achieve the volume I would want. Eventually, if this takes off, there are large laser printer-like machines that can mass produce things with greater detail, but I'm not sure I want to make that kind of financial commitment yet. Those machines cost thousands of dollars and are so large I'd have to rent a work space.
So, my short term plan is to see how far I get with the stencils and acid. I've already played around with it some, and am pretty pleased with the results. I will work out of the home unless the volume gets too big to be able to store all the supplies very easily in our house. I would then look into getting a small studio space and, depending on how profitable I'm feeling this is, invest in the laser etching machines.
I see this being very internet-based, although I do want to make some real marketing efforts on a local level. The easiest way to get going in that aspect, I think, would be to work with bridal salons and wedding planners. What would make me unique versus most companies who do personalized wine glasses, for example, is that I can do truly custom work. I can do more than just put their names on there in a calligraphy font. I can put their signatures up there, I can add an image of anything they would want. I can add any quote, Bible verse, or song lyric and none of it has to be linear. I can really see myself doing everything from the standard stuff you always see to more innovative and artistic ways of personalizing. This is where I think I will stand out over the competition.
And of course, I already plan on making myself a set of Dave-themed glasses. Think of how cute it would be..."Celebrate we will," "Eat Drink and Be Merry," etc., etc., etc. :)
There are so many more ideas that I have to play around with still, but I can really see this doing well, and more importantly, there is so much room to grow. I'm really, honestly going to go through with this now. I'm diving in. I was right to be so slow before because the idea had not yet matured, but I really feel this is it now, and I'd be crazy not to go for it!
Posted at 1:31 PM
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- Man, today is crazy!
Ok, the fact that ten minutes have gone by since I typed that and that I have been interrupted a million times just typing this sentence is an indication. AAAHHHH!!
Posted at 10:31 AM
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Monday, November 15, 2004
- I just heard a big thud on my top story window. I turn around, and all I see are little feathers floating in the wind. :(
Posted at 4:36 PM
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- Oh my God! I just wrote out the longest post, and it all disappeared!!! BAH!
Quick summary:
My 4-day Weekend was fun. St. Augustine (pics to come tomorrow) and Gator game.
My parents LOVE my new and improved business idea, so I'm really going for it now.
I'll elaborate on these things soon.
For now, here are some pics of my little godson to be!! (1,2,3,4)
Posted at 11:32 AM
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Wednesday, November 10, 2004
- Due to my weeklong depression, I have decided to make the following list...
Things that have happened in the last week that make me happy in no particular order
1. Kisses from Andrew
2. Licks from Lucky
3. Driving with my windows down
4. Cool, sunny mornings
5. Looking good in my dress
6. Seeing ducks walking around our neighborhood
7. This week is only a three day work week
8. Walking around Savannah under sunny skies and cool breeze
9. Watching the branches sway in the wind from my desk
10. Fried shrimp
11. Whiskey sour
12. Seeing a friend get married at a fountain under the Spanish Moss
13. Exploring an old Victorian home while listening to ghost stories
14. Chinese food
15. Cuddling with Andrew well past the time I'm supposed to be getting up
16. Hot showers with my Dove exfoliating soap
17. Rediscovering my Stone Roses CD
18. Driving past the marching band's practice
19. Seeing Anything Goes and singing along to all the words in my head
20. Meeting Chita Rivera
21. Planning the visit of St. Augustine
22. Nancies
23. Spider Solitaire
24. Watching some birds scurry around the soccer field
25. Andrew giving me head scratches
Posted at 1:43 PM
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- I was 20 minutes late to work this morning for no real reason. I decided to sleep in an extra half hour. When I finally did get up, no rush at all. Still took my nice, long shower, ironed out some nice clothes, made sure my hair looked right, didn't even think of speeding or passing slow cars. When I got here, no one else was here. The other office bitches walked in five minutes later with no apologies. Nope. I was actually pretty proud about my guilt-free tardiness.
Tomorrow, my parents are coming up here to pick us up and we'll be heading to St. Augustine for two nights. I've never been, but I've always wanted to! I love historic places. I can't believe that I've gone to Salem, Charleston, Savannah, and heck, all of Europe, but have never been to the oldest city in the U.S. just an hour and a half away!
I'm excited to see the city, but I'm nervous about mother-daughter relations. My mom and I supposedly ironed things out from the other day, but I'm left feeling so empty. If I were to go into all of the issues we have, I'd be typing all day. I've been so very depressed for the past week. Andrew and I talked a little last night about it because he's been trying to call me out on my depression. I told him, though, that I have a lot of guilt talking about my mom. I don't like to go into it because I feel like I'm disrespecting her. If I said everything, I don't think anyone would have a very good opinion of her, and that feels unfair. Andrew I can tell has a few issues with her himself, so I'm afraid to talk to him about things for fear that we'll never all be able to all get together happily. So, we talked about all that. Ugh. I don't know. I just don't have any hope of anything changing ever. Either I have to learn to just deal with all of this and put on a happy face, or I have to remove myself, and either scenario makes me sick to my stomach. I can't even think about this without bursting into tears. This isn't what I want in my life. I only get one mother, and this isn't the kind of relationship I wanted with my mother. I don't know how much longer I can ignore it all.
Posted at 9:08 AM
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Tuesday, November 09, 2004
- I can't believe I haven't written anything yet today. And actually, I can't believe I've actually been doing work most of the day.
I feel like I'm depressed lately. I'm tired all the time. I have to choke back tears several times a day. I have no idea what to do about it. I had a fabulous time in Savannah, but I came home to have to face everything all over again. Some things may have hope of changing, somethings never will.
Posted at 2:05 PM
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Monday, November 08, 2004
- These are my photos from Savannah!
I LOVE this picture of Andrew and I! I'm going to have to see if I can print it and frame it.
Posted at 8:47 PM
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- Oh, and update on the feeling ugly thing...
Finally, when I got done up for the wedding, I looked hot. I just looked at our pictures this morning (I'll be posting tonight or tomorrow), and there is a GORGEOUS one of Andrew and I. I was so pleased as I put on my dress and makeup that I was actually cleaning up nicely. I felt pretty. It felt so nice to be out looking like that. I mean really, I was being pretty vain about it. It felt so nice to feel hot again. Then, we went back to the hotel room to change for a night on the town, and I nearly broke out into tears. Sometime between when I got dressed for the wedding and coming back, in those six and a half hours, I had erupted a GIANT zit on my chin. I mean, it wasn't just an ugly red thing that I could just slap some more makeup on. I mean, it was nasty, nasty. It was so huge and white (and good God even greenish if you looked at it closely enough!!) and disgusting that it made me feel so stupid for feeling attractive. And it was right smack in the middle of my chin. So the whole time I spent feeling like I was one of the most beautiful person, everyone was staring at the pus-filled growth on my chin. I wish I was exaggerating about how enormous and gross it was. Seriously, the magnitude of the grossness of this zit was proportional to how full of myself I had gotten to a very symbolic degree. It's only maybe once a year that I sprout one of these monsters. So stupid. Well, I had my Cinderella moment for a few hours. Fortunately, you can't see it in the photo since it's from farther away, so I'll look at that and pretend that's what I looked like all day long. :(
Posted at 1:08 PM
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- Clear blue skies and I had to turn on the heater in my car for the first time this season! I love this weather!
We had such a great time in Savannah. I want to do these little getaways more often. We were only gone for one night. While there was a lot more of Savannah I wish we could have seen, it did feel like we were gone for a good amount of time. We drove up with Laura and Jason, whose wedding we went to in NC in May. It was only about 3.5 hours, which isn't terrible by any means. We got there in time to have a nice lunch along River Street, which is one of the main drags in Savannah.
We then checked in to our hotel and changed for the wedding.
The wedding was held outside in Forsyth park, right at the beautiful fountain.
The weather was so perfect. It could not have been a more beautiful wedding. Megan looked lovely. Her dress was great! I'll be posting pictures tomorrow. Their reception was held at an old train station. 
So nice. The food was great, and we had a great time dancing and drinking.
Since the ceremony was during the day, the reception was done in time for us to take a Ghost Tour. Supposedly, Savannah is one of the most haunted cities in America. We walked around hearing ghost stories and some history of the city. We went into an old house which was owned by Juliette Gordon Lowe, founder of the Girl Scouts.
Supposedly it is still haunted by one of her relatives. I didn't really buy a lot of those stories, but it was still neat to see all of the original furniture and antiques. It was beautiful!
From there, we went out for drinks, which ended up being quite an adventure. We first hit Wet Willies because one of our friends was there, but it was way too clubby for us. Too loud and crowded and too much dancing going on. We went in search for a bar where we could just chill for a while. Our cabbie had recommended a few but, well, we learned pretty quickly that we are not quite into the same kinds of places cabbies are!! We walked around until we finally found a place called Monkey Bar. From the outside, it looked way too chic for us. A few of us had changed into jeans, so we didn't even know if we would be allowed in. We saw some people walk in who were dressed down too, so we figured we'd give it a shot. When we went in, it turned out to be a pretty much 40+ crowd. They were playing those cheesy early 90's dance songs and everything. Rumor had it an R&B/funk band was going to be playing in a few minutes though, so we ordered drinks and found some couches. Wow, was this crowd ever weird. At first, we were pretty disappointed that we ended up in a lame bar, but it turned out to be a riot. There was this group of white trash women with 80's hair and clothes that were way too tight for them that were so drunk and dancing all over the place. This other woman who looked like she would have been so cool if only it had been the early 90's started moving in on one of the guys that was with the other group, so we nearly witnessed a cat fight between drunk women who looked like they were old enough to be my mom. There was another woman there who had had one too many face lifts and fell off of her chair three times that we saw. It was hysterical! Although horribly lame, I think we had more fun there than we would have had anywhere else! Plus, they mixed VERY strong drinks, as their clientele can attest to. ;)
The next day, we got to drive around and see a little more of the city. It is so gorgeous. I would want to go back just to walk around. All those beautiful homes and parks mixed with the gorgeous weather was just wonderful.
It was just so beautiful. We ate at a great seafood place by the river, and were off back home.
I only have a three day week this week, and then we're heading to St. Augustine with my family for two days. We're on a historic city kick, I guess! I love all of this travelling. We really need to do this kind of thing more often!
Posted at 10:03 AM
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Friday, November 05, 2004
- Blogger wasn't working for me this morning. Back from lunch now and it's back. Andrew just called me up and let me know he wanted to take me out to lunch! :) It was nice. He makes me so happy.
I've been feeling ugly lately. My hair just isn't working for me anymore, and my acne is ridiculous. I haven't felt attractive in a while. It's amazing how much it affects the way you feel about yourself. Hopefully getting done up for the wedding will boost my spirits, but I think I need to pick up my prescription cream regimen again. I get lazy with them sometimes because they take so long to work and they leave my face looking shiny right after I put it on. I have to do something though. I feel like I'm letting myself depreciate already at the age of 25. I also need a haircut I can get excited about again. I apologize for the girliness of this post, but feeling this ugly is really getting to me! I feel like I'm the before picture of those makeovers that they do on TV.
Posted at 1:38 PM
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Thursday, November 04, 2004
- The one bright spot to my day, Chita Rivera is here. She is the winner of two Tony awards and six additional nominations and the original star of Chicago, Bye Bye Birdie, and West Side Story. She's definitely a HUGE DEAL in theatre. So, I got to meet her, do a couple things for her, attend part of a talk she gave, etc. Nice. It's always amazing to meet someone so successful like that.
Andrew and I are also catching the show Anything Goes tonight with some friends. I was stage manager for that show way back in 10th Grade, so I'm going to be all nostalgic watching it tonight. I know the entire thing by heart. Should be fun!
I got a call from my dad this morning. My guess was correct, and my mom is insulted that I haven't called her back to apologize for being rude to her. Apparently, she embellished the story quite a bit because he said, "You know, you are free to have your own political beliefs, but what occured is just a lack of respect." Umm...what?? It took every ounce of strength I had not to just explode or break down. I don't understand it.
I also am amazed how long I've been doing this blog without ever delving into the millions upon millions of issues I have with my mother.
Posted at 3:02 PM
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- I can't believe this. I'm so fucking sick of this. I feel like throwing up.
Posted at 9:58 AM
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- I can't believe I had more in me, but I did. More of the same yesterday. Full day of lump in my throat leading into a full night of crying my guts out. Fun.
In a more constructive vein, I think I have improved my idea of selling crafts. I was feeling a bit pessimistic about the idea more than I was feeling optimistic about it, but I feel that I have really come across an excellent idea now. If I can master it, I really think my earning potential is far greater than my previous idea. I'm feeling a bit of renewed excitement over it.
If I had my way, I'd quit my job just before Christmas. We are getting a $1000 bonus (my first bonus EVER) on Dec. 1, so I'd want to stick around for that. And then, beyond that, freedom. If only I had gotten the ball rolling a little sooner on all of this so that I'd know by then if all of this was feasible. I wish I had the guts to just quit anyway to force myself to make something work. I'm not that gutsy though, and it's impossible to tell right now whether it's a good thing or a bad thing.
Posted at 8:44 AM
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Wednesday, November 03, 2004
- I want to run away. I feel so trapped in my life and there is so much I wish I could just shake off. Last night I had an elaborate fantasy of running away, changing my name, and living in a ski resort town somewhere in the Rockies. I'm so sick of everything right now. Just sick and tired. Last night was like a tidal wave. I cried about one thing, then something else would pop into my head, and all of a sudden, it was like a parade of everything wrong in my life, stopping one by one to punch me in the stomach. I'm so sick of it all. I'm sick of pretending it's all going to go away or that there is something I can do.
Posted at 9:42 AM
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- The dam broke on me last night. I cried like I haven't cried in a very long time. After holding back tears nearly all day yesterday, I came home to find that I had ordered the wrong glasses for my little "project," a mistake that cost me over $50. That just gave me the little push I needed to go into a convulsing, sniveling, wailing cry for over an hour straight.
At least I was impressed with myself for actually meaning what I've been saying. I don't care who wins the election. I fell asleep a little after 9pm last night after watching about five minutes of election coverage. Sure, I'm pissed as hell that W has been given the go-ahead, it seems, but I've already explained my reasons for why it ultimately doesn't matter. I don't want to get into it again. I'm either completely wrong and he is the answer to all of our prayers, or I'm right and we'll all get to see what another Bush administration with a blank check does to the world and we'll get someone who knows what the hell they're doing to step up and try to fix everything.
So here I'm starting another day.
Posted at 8:11 AM
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Tuesday, November 02, 2004
- Mom, I'm sick of constantly having to apologize for things I'm not sorry for. I'm not sorry that I have my own political opinions. I'm not sorry that I hate that you have filled every single drawer of my old bedroom with baby clothes. I'm not sorry that I think you buy me way too much Christmas crap so that I don't have anymore closet space in my own house. I'm not sorry that I think you are judgemental of me. I'm sick and tired of having to call you after every fight we have and try to invent something to apologize for so that we can talk again. I can't understand why my own mother would hold a grudge against me when I'm perfectly fine just moving on. You insulted me this morning. You hung up on me this morning. I'll forgive you if you just call me tonight and talk about whatever as if nothing happened, though, because I love you. You don't have to apologize to me if you don't want to. However, on top of the insult you gave me this morning, I know you are expecting me to call you. I know that when I call, if you answer, you will quickly pass the phone to Dad without saying a word because that's the way it always is. I know that you will say loudly in the background, "Tell her I'm in the bathroom or something," because we go through this every time until you are satisfied that I have begged enough to even get you on the phone. I'm sick of you manipulating every confrontation so that you have the upperhand. I should be the one waiting for you to call, but I won't be. I won't be because I don't want to hold grudges against you. I want to be able to call you for whatever reason and not have to remember that I'm holding out in this stupid game you always insist on playing. You want me to call tonight and beg for your forgiveness, but I'm sick and tired of doing it. I'm sick of going through this every few months over the most idiotic things. Is it really worth our relationship? Is your pride really worth more to you than us being able to talk to each other?
I'm not sure why it has happened, but it seems like you don't know who I am. It hurts when I hear the things you have said about me when I'm not around. It shocks me everytime. I haven't heard anyone else accuse me of being an inadequate wife. I haven't heard anyone else accuse me of being fickle. I haven't heard anyone else accuse me of being uneducated. I am not perfect, but these issues are just dead wrong. Completely wrong. In fact, they are the things in my life of which I am most proud. I may not be doing much in my life right now, but I love my husband with all of my heart, I never betray myself, and I never allow anyone else tell me how to think. These are the things I am most certain of in my life, yet these are the very core things you question. I don't know where it went wrong. I always thought we were close. I always thought that when we talked, you listened. I always believed you when you said that when the entire world turns its back on me, the one person who would be there standing next to me was you. I feel like I don't know who you were talking to all of this time.
Does this all sound like I'm blowing it out of proportion for our stupid spat this morning? Absolutely! And yet, however these words may hurt you, that is what you do to me every time we fight. When you hang up on me, when you cut me off mid-sentence, when you don't return my calls, when you refuse to say anything other than "fine" as I plead my case, when you won't even listen to me unless I am begging for your forgiveness. I don't feel like playing this game anymore. It's not about who's right and who's wrong. It's about us being able to be the mother and daughter team we like to think we are. And yet, you reduce it to a power play, and it leaves me feeling so empty. Do you only want me as long as you can keep me under your thumb? Do you only care to talk to me as long as I agree with everything you say? I can't believe that that's true. I do believe you are a good mother, but you let these petty things get in the way. When you do this to me, it's like you're saying all these things to me. And when you hear me crying on the phone apologizing to you, I don't cry because I'm sorry. I cry because I'm hurt as hell that you do this to me. And I want it to stop.
So no, Mom. I'm not sorry that I voted for John Kerry. I'm sorry that you think who I voted for is more important than us being able to talk.
Posted at 3:38 PM
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- I am just steaming mad right now. I don't know how the woman who gave birth to me and raised me has such a completely false vision of who I am. Apparently I am someone who feeds my husband microwave dinners, drinks too much, and let myself be influenced socially and politically. Nevermind that I cook every weeknight, nevermind that I drink MAYBE once a month, nevermind that I was a virgin on my wedding night and have never even touched a cigarette or any illegal drug, and nevermind that read, listen to, and watch the news every friggin' day and voted differently than Andrew in many different contests on the ballot. There is no way to change her opinion of me. To her, I am lost. I just don't understand it. What could I be doing to be a better daughter in her eyes? How lame and boring to I have to be to be acceptable? So stupid. I don't even know why I care if it's impossible.
Posted at 11:18 AM
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- The first casualty of Election Day. My mom called me just now to tell me a few things, and then asked if I had voted. I said I sure did. "You better not have voted for Kerry!" she said. I told her I could vote for whoever I wanted. Well, it came out that I did vote for Kerry, and she told me, "I can't believe it! You didn't think things through!" She was just completely awestruck. I took serious offense to her telling me I did not educate myself and told her I couldn't talk to her if she was going to talk that way about me. So, she hung up. Wow.
She's not the type to apologize or cave either, so it's up to me at some point to call and apologize if I ever want to talk to her again, though I don't see what I have to apologize for since she's the one insulting me. I'd call my dad to vent, except who knows if he'd have the same opinion!!
But anyway, yes, I voted (for candidates in BOTH parties, I might add). It took me about an hour, which isn't terrible, I suppose. I'm glad I went early before it got hot. I'm proudly wearing my "I Voted" sticker right now, but I hope it doesn't spawn any more debates. I can't wait for this whole horrible ordeal to be over.
Posted at 8:31 AM
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Monday, November 01, 2004
- Halloween pics! They're pretty cool, although they were taken pretty early in the night as people arrived. No good action shots! Oh well!
Sitting here watching the Dolphins game on Monday Night Football. I was enjoying watching the 0-0 score until I put the period on that last sentence. Stupid Jets and their stupid touchdowns. And so it starts. It's not easy loving the worst team in the NFL. *sigh*
Posted at 9:15 PM
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- Just finished researching all of the millions of things I'll be voting on tomorrow. I must say, all of these amendments worry me. They are so confusing that I can't imagine that most people can figure them out if they look at them for the first time at the voting booth. I'm glad I took the time to research them. I wonder how many people do.
Two clear examples where I don't trust the general public to make an informed decision:
No.1, Article X, Section 22: Parental notice of termination of a minor's pregnancy. The legislature shall not limit or deny the privacy right guaranteed to a minor under the United States Constitution as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court. Notwithstanding a minor's right of privacy provided in Section 23 of Article I, the Legislature is authorized to require authorized to require by general law for notification to a parent or guardian of a minor's pregnancy. The Legislature shall provide exceptions to such requirement for notification and shall create a process for judicial waiver of the notification.
Ok, so if you know nothing about the whole background of abortion law in this state, this can be read and interpreted two ways. Either it is reinforcing privacy rights of the Constitution by allowing exceptions to requirements for notification as stated in the last sentence, or it is proposing that notification be introduced. It is, in fact, the latter. I don't think the wording is very clear because no where does it state that notification does not already exist. It states: "the legislature is authorized..." Someone reading this may assume this is additional background information, just as the inclusion of the statement on privacy rights of the Constitution is background information. Saying that "the Legislature SHALL provide exceptions" implies future tense, which may lead one to believe that this is the hope of the amendment. The wording is perfectly clear to someone who knows that parental notification is not required in Florida, but for someone with no knowledge of the laws, I believe this wording to be confusing. People may not know what they are voting yes to.
No.8, Article X, Section 20: Current law allows medical doctors who have committed repeated malpractice to be licensed to practice medicine in Florida. This amendment prohibits medical doctors who have been found to have committed three or more incidents of medical malpractice from being licensed to practice medicine in Florida.
Here, the wording of the intention of the amendment is crystal clear. However, I don't believe the general public is educated enough on the medical field to understand the implications of this amendment. Yes, it sounds AWFUL that there are doctors out there practicing who have been shown to be incompentent and I don't want any doctors with such a record to be operating on me. However, being related to and being friends with as many doctors as I am, I know how rampant medical malpractice suits are. I don't believe I know a single doctor personally who has not had some legal issues. Some specialties are worse than others. What this will do is give money happy patients more leverage. A doctor will be much more willing to settle a suit out of court than risk taking on another point onto their record and not being able to practice at all. The bill was introduced by lawyers, not any group of concerned doctors, healthcare providers, patients, or legislators. Lawyers will have money flowing to them much more easily with less effort since they don't have to put together a good case. Just find a doctor with two strikes, and watch the money pour in. I would like to support a bill that bans bad doctors, but I don't think that lawyers and juries should be the ones in charge of determining who is a bad doctor and who is not.
So anyway, for those of you who have not voted, be sure to find out what is on your ballot and research the issues! Be informed! I'm much more excited about voting for these other items than voting for Dumb or Dumber.
Posted at 4:14 PM
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- For some reason, I have been having horrible cravings lately. I'm going to go run across to the Union for another Cookie Dough Blast...Vanilla yogurt, chocolate syrup, and cookie dough chunks all mixed together like a milkshake. Mmmmmmm...
I want this and Indian food. So random.
I convince myself that I can indulge by promising to work out extra hard that day, but that's dumb. I know that I have no problems with my weight. My issue is with eating all of this sugar I've been craving lately. I'd become diabetic if I ate everything I wanted to eat. Exercising real hard isn't going to make the sugar go away...or does it?? Hmmm...
Ok, Cookie Dough Blast-ho.
Posted at 2:23 PM
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- This coming weekend, we're heading to Savannah for a friend's wedding. I'm looking forward to taking that mini-vacation. Then, the following week, I actually have a four day weekend! I have Thursday off for Veteran's Day and Friday is Homecoming. I usually have to work on Homecoming anyway (despite classes being cancelled), but the new president decided to kiss up to us staff members this year and gave us the day off. Really, it makes sense since we wouldn't be able to do anything with the random Thursday off. So, we're trying to figure out arrangements for a four-day weekend. I called my dad up to suggest St. Augustine. Hopefully we can do that. It'd be two weeks in a row of historic destinations!
I'd be so happy just constantly planning little getaways. With these two little trips, Thansgiving in NC, Christmas in Venezuela, our mystery summer trip, plus my cousin trying to get me to come to Robert's first birthday, I have travelling on the brain. I just need to quit my job to be able to do all of it that I want to do. Unfortunately, quitting my job would mean I couldn't afford to do it anymore. Stupid responsibility. What's the point of having cake if you can't even eat it??
Posted at 10:40 AM
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- What a fun weekend! Andrew and I just stayed home on Friday to kind of charge our batteries for Saturday. Lane arrived Saturday afternoon and helped us decorate. The place ended up looking GREAT by the time the party started. I'll be posting pictures tonight or tomorrow.
The party was so much fun. Some people who RSVPed were no shows, but the group that came was tons of fun. We probably had about 15 people. I can not believe how much alcohol we went through! WOW! The beer, the margaritas, the whiskey, and the Jello shots were all whizzing by! I counted about 40 empty beer bottles, 30+ Jello shots, about 10 margaritas, and four whiskey drinks served. Umm...divide that by 15 people and subtract the handful of DD's or otherwise "responsible" drinkers. Umm...yeah. TONS of fun. The food did not move as well as I would have liked, but I think people were too busy drinking. :)
We had some cool costumes show up. Lane was a very sexy Cat (but not Catwoman), we had Magnum PI, a 40's starlet completely black and white, a flapper, a gangster, a ghost, a demon, Strawberry Shortcake, a disco king, and some more I can't remember at the moment. We got a lot of compliments on the decorations and hints that we should make this an annual party. Woohoo!
Sunday rolled around, and the extra hour of sleep was very welcome. Andrew had a patient, and Lane and I went down to Micanopy for the Fall Arts & Crafts Festival. It was hot as hell, which was pretty uncomfortable, especially when considering the dehydration experienced from the night before! But it was still lots of fun. Both Lane and I are considering selling our own creations (she's into photography), so we went around and "studied" each of the booths and brainstormed ideas on how to move things better than they were. We had an interesting talk with a lady who was selling her husband's underwater photography (which was really excellent). She was talking about how the crowd wasn't right for their kind of art and went on to trash talk the booth next door for selling dozens of some really, really hideous partyhose based dolls. It dawned on me that I apparently don't have to be an excellent artist to make a profit. I have to sell crap. I saw two booths with painted glass items. One was pretty bad and selling painted wine glasses for $3 a piece, but one was actually very good and selling for only $5 a piece. Hmm. The ones on the internet sell for more, so I thought it'd be fine. I don't know if this is a price this woman put because she doesn't know what she's doing or because that's what the price needs to be to sell them. Anyway, it made me a bit concerned, although I did get some other good ideas. I looked for items I might be interested in that were moving pretty well. Lane was inspired by the lack of talent in most of the photographers there. So, it was a productive morning for us!
After Lane left, all Andrew and I could do was just lay on the couch watching football. Both of us faded in and out of sleep. We went to bed early, even by Daylight Savings standards!
Posted at 8:45 AM
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