Expended Gray Matter Area

Christmas 2008

2008-11-29T20:54:00.000-08:00

I had the Christmas spirit for about a week and then lost it. It left and I can't find it again. If you see it, please let it know I would like it to visit again.
Thanks.

Christmas baking

2007-12-22T08:41:00.000-08:00

I usually bake quite a lot of things for the holidays, but this year I'm not feeling so up for it. Our pup, Quinn had to be put down recently as he had Stage V Lymphoma. It was in his bone marrow and he was in pain. What it really sad, it is that two weeks ago he was fine. No symptoms. The diagnosis was totally unexpected. It makes it that much more devastating.

Perhaps I should bake though. He usually was at my feet while I was doing things around the kitchen. Perhaps doing so this year would be in honor of him.

Fudge, cookies, bars, pretzels, cinnamon rolls, and much more. Perhaps I'll reduce the number of items, but I'll still do something.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

2007-12-08T13:37:00.000-08:00

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
A new car loan for a hybrid

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
2 new lenses

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
3 broken appliances

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
4 minute backrubs

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
5 dirty rooms

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
6 puppies farting

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
7 broken dishes

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
8 muddy paw prints

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
9 am wake up

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
10 pairs of earrings

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
11 bags of candy

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
12 bottles of water

The North Pole is Sinking! (AKA Sinking Santa)

2007-11-24T17:28:00.000-08:00

Here is a draft of the poem I was writing (with help from my 7 year old daughter who is learning about rhyming words and loves Santa):

Driving cars, burning fuel
Large carbon footprints are the rule
We have to wonder what we were thinking
To melt the ice caps – the North Pole is sinking!

The post office was the first to go
Underneath the massive ice flow
A blink of the eye and the office was gone
Leaving no trace of children's letters on the lawn.

Santa didn't understand the loss
The elves were freaked out and crazy ideas they toss
The reindeer seemed to take it in stride
As it was still 6 months til their Christmas ride.

The next to go was the Candy Shop
It sunk under with a loud POP
Ribbon candy was all that was left
Leaving many quite bereft.

At this point Santa did research
All night long his glasses perch
Upon a nose, not quite so cold
As summer's days of yonder old.

The reindeers' stable sank quite fast
They had hoped it would have been last
They had to bunk in the elves dorm
The North Pole looked nothing like the norm.

All the while the workshop would flood
The sump pump turned out to be a dud
Against several inches of water that came
Nothing would ever be the same.

Santa decided that he must move
The cause of the sinking he couldn't prove
He noted the hole in the ozone layer
An Inconvenient Truth he watched from the Al Gore sayer.

The answer he dreaded he finally understood
The people of Earth were the cause was not so good.

Should he give presents to those who wasted resource
Or only to those who showed remorse.
The lumps of coal to others did not seem fit.
For it causes problems when it was lit.

Global warming was melting his home
His ground was unstable to support the secret dome.
All would fall through into icy depths below
No way to reverse what was started years ago.

Santa's decision was difficult to make
Upon its finality all he did wake.
“Pack your bags, your toys, and your tools
Pack everything that hasn't sunk into the icy pools!”

All did run to pack up their meager things
They packed their homes, the workshops and the sleigh with wings.
The gathered at the North Pole town center quick
In their hearts they felt quite sick.

Leaving this home they had lived for years gone by
Even before the reindeer did fly
Some did cry at this sad time of loss
As Santa gave his decision – he was the boss.

Where they would move to avoid the floods
Avoid icebergs, volcanoes and muds.
One place after another, off the list they came.
For fear of future flooding – they were all the same.

“An island would quickly sink
As ocean levels rise above the brink.
Coastal land would also fail
Perhaps we should just make a boat and sail”

One elf did step forward with pause
As he was about to give advice to the Claus.
“A mountaintop might be best
For us to settle – be above the rest!”

“Mt. Everest is the highest peak on this Earth
So many people give it wide enough berth.
If we move there, little would alter
We need to move now before our reserve should falter.”

“On top of the world we have been and will be
North Pole or highest peak – as far as the eye could see.”
The elf stepped back after speaking his mind
Others looked at him with pity – but at least they were kind.

Santa did stop to give the information a thought
He needed to tread lightly or a war could be fought.
No one had true claim to the North Pole.
He rarely saw animals, let alone a human soul.

Those in Nepal may take offense
They may not like his presents and mints
“I think we'll be fine if we take a care
Be quiet and unknown to all that are there.”

“We'll set up a P.O. Box with address unknown
And keep up the Christmas routes that are currently flown.”

“It's a grand idea, my little elf.
I'm surprised I didn't think of it by myself.
We'll leave immediately by Reindeer Express
I know this is sad and brings lots of stress.”

“Line up in pairs, all with a moving buddy
The last in line will be me – the big old fuddy-duddy
The first at Mt. Everest should build the dome
To keep everything secret in our new home.”

“Once all has arrived and we are at peace
We'll notify the world through a press release.
Santa has moved due to their energy greed
Taking so much more than their true need.”

“Ask them to reflect and change their ways
I've lost so much – although not my sleighs.
I will be coming on Christmas Eve
With new toys and ideas up my sleeve.”

When Christmas did dawn as Santa had stated
A hybrid car was found that on CORN was sated.
Fossil fuel was not left for the naughty - but alarm
A simple reminder note on protecting the planet from harm.

When should a driver honk at another driver?

2007-08-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've had drivers:

1) honk at me when I'm at a red light when I would be turning right.

Usually, there is a small break in the traffic that they think I should have pressed my car into. What I want to say to them is - I'm the driver of my vehicle and am thus responsible for the safety of those in my car and those around me. I know how my vehicle will react (slowly or quickly) when I press the gas pedal). Additionally, I have a different vantage point from where they are and SO I ultimately get to make the decision on when to move forward.

2) honk at me when I was waiting for change from a fast food drive-thru,

No point to this honking at all. I will still want my change back before I leave.

3) honk at me when I'm at a red light when I would be turning left.

Uh. Duh. The light is red. It would be ILLEGAL to turn. If you are in that big a hurry, go around me to take the turn. You get the ticket, not me.

4) honk at me when I was at a red light and the light JUST turned green and I was already moving forward.

If you are in that big a hurry, you should have left 5 minutes earlier. I'm already moving, so get a grip.

Honking should only be used when there is a danger that you want to make another driver aware of (ie they are backing out and will hit you unless you honk to let them know they are coming close to kissing your bumper). Unfortunately it has started to be used as a method of screaming at another driver... and frankly it is another version of road rage.

Back from Vacation

2007-08-25T09:31:00.000-07:00

After two weeks abroad, I am very happy to be home. I love traveling, but everybody needs a homebase. We moved far too often from house to house to hotel to apartment... even country to country. I liked Scotland a lot more than England. Not to say I didn't like England, but I found the majority of the people there to be rude. The people in Scotland were far friendlier. I'd live there. However, while I know we had wonderful weather while we were there, I know it isn't the norm. And... would I be able to deal with liquid sunshine? I'm living in a state that has 300 days of sunshine a year. Do I want to leave that? Perhaps for awhile but I would always want to return home again.

Hmm.. Perhaps that's why the people in London are the way they are. They have permanent SAD. Perhaps the UK Government should buy everyone a natural light lamp for their homes and offices. And accounting for the Scottish friendliness when dealing with the same realities of environment? The architecture there is goregous and would put a smile on anyone's face. Yes - I know England has it's own beautiful architecture, but the hustle and bustle of the city and the greater number of people make it virtually impossible to actually enjoy it.

I would love to go back to Scotland and do research on the clans and their histories, including their tartans, mottos, and heraldry. It's really interestng.

As for the books I chose to read while away? I took the new Harry Potter - and didn't touch it (shame on me since I carted that heavy thing all over the place). I did read two books: The Mercy of Thin Air (set in 1920's New Orleans) and Pemberley, a Pride and Prejudice continuation.

Vacation reading material

2007-07-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to decide what to bring with me on my vacation. I usually try to bring two books and swap them as I get to a point where I can't read the genre anymore. I was debating about bringing a book on Lean Thinking or Six Sigma, but that feels like work. I would be interested in other types of business (particularly international business) books though. The second book I need to find could be a Science Fantasy book. I like Poul Anderson, Piers Anthony and Mercedes Lackey. I need to do some research on amazon.com to see if I can find a story that I would enjoy. I've taken a non-fiction book or two before (non-business related). I enjoyed reading about the origin of holidays, the most influencial fictional characters and a discussion of women's rights in the workplace. I don't know what else I should read though. I love Pride & Prejudice, history books, and the relation of historical cultures to modern themes. I guess I could read a biography, but the only ones that come mind are people I have no interest in finding out about.

I need a website that tells me what I should read. The NY Times and other newspapers show the books that people are buying, but it doesn't really tell whether it is something worthy of the time spent to read it. I'm sure I'll have Harry Potter number 7 read before I go on vacation, and besides the book will be too heavy to travel easily.

Perhaps I should use the time to write my own stories... when I'm not sleeping that is. Perhaps I should let my brain take a vacation too and just watch the movies they will have on the plane -- NOT.

Mercedes Lackey and the Five Hundred Kingdoms

2007-03-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

The first book of Mercedes Lackey that I read was the Fairy Godmother. Wow. She is an excellent author - bringing the reader into the story (and frankly the reader doesn't want to leave either). Two books have followed in the same series - One Good Knight and Fortune's Fool. Both have pulled me into the stories - giving us teasing glimpses at the heroes/heroines of the previous stories and taking us further into the world of the Five Hundred Kingdoms. The only problem I have seen so far is finishing the book and having to wait until the next one is published. I've read some of books from another series (related to fairy tales) and enjoyed them as well. In particular The Black Swan.

I think the primary draw of these books - at least for me - is the fairy tale. I've taken classes in the fairy tales before - having to write my thoughts and analysis of the tale for my professor to butcher and claim my thoughts as wrong. How the professor knows what was meant by certain tales for certain I will never know. I've also taken a class on creative writing. The poem I wrote was about an itch and somehow a classmate had taken it and believed the poem was about alcoholism.... Uh no... it was about an honest to goodness plain old itch.

Planning a Vacation

2007-01-15T19:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, we've been planning this vacation for over twelve years now - kind of. We knew we wanted to go to Great Britain. We have thought about going there for the entire time we've known each other. We've purchased travel guides and magazines to learn more about the area. But- we didn't buy a map.

We've decided that we are going to London, and how about seeing the Tower of London, Big Ben, the locations mentioned in the books we've read, including Jane Austen books. Would we have a clue how to get there though? No.

Is it feasible to travel from London to Bath to the Lake and Peak Districts, see Stonehenge, and the white cliffs of Dover in a two week time period? Can we make it up to Scotland? Can we take the chunnel train to Paris for a day trip? And where exactly do the relatives live anyway?

Oh the husband has been to London before and thinks he can find his way around. He hasn't been there touristing for the twelve years I've known him. I'll give him the point that London streets aren't likely to have changed in that timeframe (and the building are low so you can see the taller touristy buildings, but surely his memory isn't that good... and surely his navigation skills aren't that much better in London as they are here in the U.S. - or were on our vacations to Brussels and Sydney. Of course, I may be in for a surprise.

The Revver Widow

2006-08-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

You may have heard of the football widow - the wife who is "forgotten" during football season. They may try to involve the wife, but it just isn't her thing. Well, with the advent of the internet, and after America's Funniest Home Videos and Bob Saget have left the air, comes the wonder of www.revver.com.

Now anyone with a .mov file can broadcast their home movies to the world - and make money on it to boot. AFHV only gave money to the funniest videos, but, at revver, even the lamest piece of videography can make a penny. The Mentos/Diet Coke videos are a favorite among the population and has made $21,000+ for the creators!

My husband has been posting tidbits of our movies and watching others for the last several days, without an end in sight. Why anyone would want to watch him feeding our dogs is WAY beyond my comprehension. Fortunately, his computer is in the family room, so we haven't lost him completely to this seemingly unending supply of voyeurism. But, why be involved in our present lives when he could share our past experiences with others and watch some other family jump on a trampoline, or another person's attempt at being a filmographer and creating a movie about greedy kids at Halloween.

We are up to $3.60! That means, if they actually gave us the money before the $50 minimum, that we could buy lunch for the family at the dollar menu at Wendy's! woo woo! That is, if we could pull him from his seat at the computer desk. Until then, we'll go make new memories and share it with him so he can live vicariously through us... just let me know when we've earned enough to send our 6-year old daughter through med school!

It is HOT here

2006-07-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

It's been hot here most every day, with the occassional day of rain... welcome rain as it drops the temperature down 30 degrees Fahrenheit. But, on June 30th, I believe the hottest day on record (at least on my computer) - anywhere on Earth - happened right here in Colorado. No, not the Mohave Desert or the Sahara Desert or the places where you would think it should be hot. But - in Colorado - ski country.

I'm doubtful a little rain shower bringing the temperature down 30 degrees would help much. I think I'd like an iced tea now, perhaps with a large air conditioning unit attached.

Black Friday

2005-11-25T21:44:00.000-08:00

Most people assume the name Black Friday comes from the fact that stores are in the black after the sales for the day. My opinion is that Black Friday is black because it shows how horrid people are to each other.

What happens when the store opens at (the ungodly hour of) 5am? Do people walk through the door calmly? No - they stampede.

What happens when a person falls down in the stampede? Do the others stop and help them up? No - they continue to stomp all over the people.

What happens when a store has only 15 items at a ridiculously low price and 3000 people wanting those items? Do they do the "first come first serve" that would be expected for those who actually started lining up at 3am? No - they push and shove and punch and think that they deserve the item because they are stronger or faster or whatever. Survival of the fittest.

This is truly a BLACK day. People forget that the meaning of Christmas is giving, not getting. And that doesn't include the need to give a $35 plasma screen TV to a spouse (which is essentially giving it to oneself).

Grow up people and sleep in. Go to the stores late morning or afternoon. If that just isn't in your competitive nature - just remember that most store clerks do not know first aid.

Bake Sales, School Carnivals, and School fundraisers

2005-09-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh. All at once. I'm baking cookies, I'm buying raffle tickets and carnival tickets and looking through a catalog of items that could be purchased to support the school system. I've joined the PTA, become a room mother, and am trying to juggle cheer/pom classes and my own community commitments. I've only been doing this for three days and I'm already in need of a vacation!

But, let's look at each of these things separately.

First, the bake sale. Will I feel bad if my cookies are not sold? I'll probably buy them myself to avoid that embarrassment. It's too bad that the education system has to hold bake sales and do other fundraisers in order to get money to hire a part-time art teacher. Of course, when I was in elementary, the music teacher doubled as the art teacher - but we still had the art class. I remember a bumper sticker I saw when I was in college (studying to be an elementary teacher). It said, "I'll be glad when the military has to hold a bake sale to buy a plane."

Second, school carnivals. Okay - I admit I really enjoy them. Or I used to when I was a kid. But now that I'm an adult I'm not supposed to get to play myself. That's just a bummer. Raffle tickets really aren't that bad, as long as the prizes are decent, but have you seen what they are raffling nowadays?

And Third, school fundraisers. I don't like going around to friends & families and asking them to buy things, especially given the items that are in the catalog. I'll buy some gift wrap, but I'm not pushing my coworkers to help fund the school (a school that is clear across town from where they live).

It has been awhile!

2005-09-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

Okay. I could say that nothing exciting has happened. I could say that writer's block hit. But - I must be honest. I forgot not only my password, but also my username. I know... I could have had the website send me the information, but I just didn't think about it as I searched for the little scrap of paper that I put the information on.

I really don't feel that I have much to say worth reading today. I was quiet at work and quiet at the PTA meeting this evening (very unlike me). I prefer being the shy one instead of the extrovert. People at work think I'm an extrovert because I put myself out there. I really am an introvert, but my job is important and if I don't speak up, I'm not doing my job.

I got a coupon today from Pier 1 Imports. That was the major highlight of the evening. The highlight of the day was the hug from my daughter.

Babybel Cheese wheels are good. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

That's all for now. I'm off to do my least favorite chore... deciding what to wear to work tomorrow.

Gardening

2005-04-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

It's time to start thinking about what to put into the garden for the summer. Every year we plant tomatos. The first year we put in over 20 plants and had a ton of tomatos. We've been progressively reducing the number of tomato plants though given that we receive way more than we know what to do with - even after giving some to the neighbors. I planted the seeds inside first and after just a few weeks they are already huge. The squash plants are doing the best from what I can tell.

I planted seeds for flowers as well. For some reason I'm really getting into flowers. I know I love peach roses. I used to have a peach minature rose as well. We planted it in the front and then trimmed it for the winter. The next year it grew to be a huge bush and is now red. I guess they had grafted the peach miniature part and when we trimmed it, it went into a regular bush. At least I get some pretty flowers out of it.

My all time favorite flower from the garden is the grape hyacinth though, with lilac being a close second. I just love the fragrance.

It's too bad that the garden vegetables aren't as fragrant. I might be more tempted to go into the garden itself and deal with it all. Instead I stand at the garden gate and pick the tomatos that are closest. My husband deals with the rest. Perhaps it is the mice that we know are in the garden. I don't want to accidentally step on one.

We'll be putting in the vegetables and the flowers next weekend, unless we see a weather report saying more snow. It's supposed to snow in a couple of days, so we didn't put them in this weekend.

Springtime in the Rockies

2005-04-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, it snowed last Sunday and it is supposed to snow again this coming Tuesday/Wednesday. It's hard to believe. The Saturday before was 70 degrees and beautiful - it wasn't until late afternoon that the clouds started to loom and the temperatures dropped. The snow was fun... since I didn't have to drive to work in it. It was really blowing, so some places barely had an inch on the ground when other places had piles of snow feet deep. I checked the depth in some sheltered areas to try to see how much we really got, and found that we got about two feet of snow.

I'll mention now that I am not a winter fan. I don't ski, I don't ice skate (or at least very well) and I'm really not into taking my life into my own hands driving on the slippery highways. But at least this snowstorm fell on a weekend day and therefore I could stay in the house and have no worries. I did trudge outside and shoveled the walks, and ended up very sore after helping neighbors with their drives and sidewalks. My work was for naught as it snowed several more inches on my newly shoveled drive (thus requiring yet more shoveling on Monday morning before making it into work). The blizzard of 2005 was nothing like the blizzard of 2003 though - when we got over 4 feet of snow in one snowstorm. It's the only time I've heard that my work closed down. They closed down only because the police said they would ticket anyone found driving. They couldn't very well require that their employees break the law now could they?

I'm not sure how much snow we are expecting at this time for the Tuesday/Wednesday timeframe, but I'm not looking forward to having to drive in it - no matter what. I'm looking forward to late Spring/early Summer - when there isn't a chance of snow. Of course, the latest snowstorm on record (with recordable snow amounts) was June 5th! I remember it snowing in July, but it didn't stick. In any case, summer is preferable to me, even with the extreme heat we are expected to get. At least we aren't further south and dealing with 114 degrees every day.

Discontinued Items

2005-03-05T21:05:00.000-08:00

Why is it that the items that my husband and I choose are the ones that are discontinued? It goes along with the television shows we like being canceled. Heaven forbid that we like something, 'cause tomorrow it will be gone.

I just found out that Celestial Seasonings has discontinued my all time favorite tea, Emperor's Choice. I had purchased several boxes at one time so I didn't notice until we ran out. It was THE tea to drink when we were feeling poorly. A few years ago they discontinued my Chai tea and I still haven't found a good replacement.

We went to Costo today and couldn't find the bulk bag of Edamame that we love so much. I guess that has gone the way of the only good tasting Tofu hotdog, the Cheddar rice crackers and the cookie dough mix (although they may bring that out only for the Christmas holiday season?). In any case, it is the only place I've been able to find it and I want it in the middle of Spring.

Television shows are going out left and right. It seems the majority of viewers want to watch the CSI varieties and the Law & Order series. Not my cup of tea (which is discontinued anyway). I enjoyed watching American Embassy, Wonderfalls and Firefly. I have not seen an episode of Alias, and don't really want to. I enjoy the Simpsons and avoid the Family Guy and King of the Hill or whatever Texas crap-ola cartoon that is.

Fortunately, they are putting some of the shows on DVD now. However, I doubt the disk would taste good with mustard and ketchup.

Blogging

2005-02-17T21:53:00.000-08:00

There was a recent article about blogging. Some folks were blogging and complaining about the company they worked for and they were fired. It does make sense if they were putting proprietary information onto the blog. I know I had to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement when I started at my company. I don't think I would want to complain about work on here - perhaps in a general "I wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow" sense, but other than that, work is off limits. By the way, I wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow - but that's because tomorrow is Friday and I have every other Friday off - and tomorrow is not it. Thus is life though - for every Friday off, there must be one on. And, in truth, I enjoy my job.

In the Beginning...

2005-02-13T18:10:00.000-08:00

We took our dogs to the agility training field yesterday and went through a class on jumps and tunnels. My husband runs our baby girl, Seneca. She does a great job and my husband wants to put her through a trial this year. I think she would do well, but I'm not big on competition in any fashion. The other handlers at the trial can be really mean too. They make such snarky comments. We took the pups to see my cousin run her boxer and one of the handlers came up to us and told us our dogs were fat. Out of the blue. RUDE RUDE RUDE. Her dog was a skinny scared little thing and she said it needed to lose some more weight. Egad.

I run our Papillion, Quinn. Quinn is attention deficit with hyperactivity. I try to get him to go through the run and he runs off and sniffs and pees all over the place. One thing we hear often is that the handler is the one giving the signals and therefore the errors are the handlers fault. I just can't figure out how I'm telling Quinn that he doesn't have to go through the tunnel. Perhaps I should take Quinn to the dog whisperer at the dog show next week and see if she can get him to tell me why he is so spastic when we get onto the agility course.

The third dog, Fremont, is a rescue. The people who had him before he came to us kept him in a crate for most of the first two years of his life. He came to us a broken little spirit. He didn't know how to play, couldn't walk on a leash, and couldn't speak dog with Quinn and Seneca. Two years later, he is playing and happy. He still has his Jekyll and Hyde moments when he attacks Quinn for no apparent reason. This seems to hurt Quinn's feelings, but a second later he is a spastically happy dog again. We started taking Fremont to the agility field when we first got him. At first, he was fearful of everyone and everything (including a leaf blowing past him). He now runs up to people and asks for belly rubbies. It makes me very happy to see him being a normal little dog.