Day 118 - Warning Signs

When traffic is really, REALLY bad on the freeways, I'll sometimes cut through downtown to get home.  Today was one of those days.

While traveling to the house from downtown, I use a road that has the light rail train tracks running between the lanes.  The traffic was really slow on this road too, so I noticed, for the first time, that they had this warning sign about every 5 feet along the tracks:

I was hoping to take a picture of all of these signs lined up - but couldn't get the angle.  Portland has a thing with their signs.  They tend to go overboard in the name of safety.

Ironically enough, these signs didn't stop someone just a day or so ago from walking across the tracks and getting hit by one of these trains.  Guess that they need more signs.

Day 117 - Snarky Part 2

Of the first 24 hours of my work week,  I have spent 12 hours of it in meetings.  The rest of the time is spent trying to get work done - or trying to get motivated to actually do what I dub "my day job".  Today, alone, I spent 5 hours in meetings.

If the meetings were of a variety of topics, I could handle it better.  I have not been quite that lucky.  The theme of all of the meetings has been "why people don't want to change their business processes even though they openly acknowledge the fact their business processes are costing the company too much money".  And, it involves the same group of 10 people.  These are people who really don't need to worry that change will eliminate their jobs.  Hell, these are people who would be instrumental in defining the change thus making it more important for them to stay with the company.  

After spending several hours the Monday and Tuesday listen to this one specific Senior Director bitch and moan and talk just to hear himself talk while at the same time supposedly embracing the new company attitude, I decided to wear one of my favorite necklaces.  It says "Walk the walk, forget the talk."  A friend of mine who has been a jewelry designer for 15+ years made it as part of her "Radical Mom" collection a few years ago.  She was frustrated by many things in the world at the time, so decided to wear her feelings around her neck in this case.  When I saw this several years ago at a school auction, I had to have it.  

Like the sign I have on my desk, I can be snarky with people while they unknowingly think I am saying it about someone or something else.  Whatever gets me through the day without killing someone is what I'm aiming for really.  It helped me..  But so did the fact my friend the Senior Director missed all of the meetings this afternoon.  That, I think, helped more.

Service with a Smile

Little known fact about Oregon: you cannot pump your own gas.  Why? It is against the law.  Yep.  We cannot legally pump our own gas.  I was always told that the ban was to protect the jobs associated with gas pumping.  I'm not really sure if that is the reason or not.  All I know is you can't do it.  Gas is a hair higher because of it, but not really when you compare it to California or even Washington.

This law by no means implies that you get anything but gas from these attendants.  You are likely to get dings on your car as they demonstrate their lack of hand-eye coordination, but that's it.

When I go to work in the morning, I always try to remember to gas from the station near my house.  That gas station is great.  They are fast, they are efficient, you don't fear handing over your credit/debit card, and their goal is to get you in and out as fast as they can.  If they are not busy, you get your windows washed....all of them.  And you don't have to ask.  Why? They don't like standing around.  The place is run by a crusty old mechanic who clearly demands performance from his crew.  What he has built is a dependable group - the same group that has been there for years.

Contrast this with my experience when I go on auto-pilot in the morning and forget to fill up near home.  I work in an upper class suburb about 30 minutes from my house.  I try to avoid their gas stations like the plague.  Not only is the gas $0.15 more expensive, there is a bit of arrogance that comes with the gas station attendants down there.  I can be the only car at a pump, and I will still have to go interrupt the important gas station attendant conference about last night's baseball game.  I usually am fine to do it, because quite honestly I do not trust them to be alone with my debit card.  Despite my order of premium gas, I will not always get it if I do not stand there and point to the button.  (These guys are white and native English speakers, by the way.)  When the gas is done pumping, I have to usually make a move like I'm going to touch the nozzle in order to get their attention.  If I don't it could be 5 minutes before they notice.  God help you if it is a busy day at that gas station.  If anything when they are busy, they act even more annoyed you have bothered them.  

When I have these experiences like I did yesterday, I just want to go do it myself.  I don't want attitude.  I don't want drama.  I just put up with 8+ hours of that at work.  I could really do without it, thank you.  I just want to put gas in my car so I can get home.  That's it.  Is that really too much to ask?

Oh, a couple of side notes: the first is important if you ever visit this great state.  You don't tip these attendants.  Those who work in the border towns are going to hate me saying this because they get a lot of tips from the ignorant.  Like I said, just because they pump the gas, it by no means makes these gas stations full-service & tip-worthy.

The second note - never assume a native Oregonian knows how to pump their own gas.  I didn't realize until about a year after dating Garbanzo in college that he had no idea how to pump gas.  He finally admitted it and asked me to show him.  Little things you take for granted, I guess.  What's funny is the fact that more often than not when traveling outside of the state, I'm usually the one who puts gas in the car.  But, then again, I also had to chastise my father-in-law for never showing his son around an engine.  My dad and I took care of educating Garbanzo on that.  He now knows how to check the oil in his car.

Day 116 - April Showers Bring May Flowers

This is a great summarization of today.  Rain.  And more rain.  And, just when you thought it was over, even more rain.  The question always asked at this point in the month is what do May showers bring?  More rain.

When I was looking outside to do my daily check that the dogs did not dig the dirt out of my new raised bed, I thought I saw a glimmer of hope.   I went outside - and sure enough found this:

See that little green in the middle there?  Those are the start of cucumbers!!  Every mound of cucumber seeds has plants coming up.  Woo-hoo!!

And those are the starts of melons!!  I have never grown melons before.  I guess they like the soil and the rain and the lack of warmth!   Further back in the box are the pumpkins.  Two of the three mounds have pumpkin plants coming up.

No peas yet.  No spinach.  But, they promise sun this weekend (and if we are good, 70 degrees).  I think that will really jump start those seeds.  And, the pepper starts, tomatoes starts, and various herbs are also happy.

I should explain my excitement a bit.  Last year, the only produce I got from my garden was sugar snap peas in late May.  That was it.  The weather was too inconsistent.  My four tomato plants all produced rotten tomatoes.  The cukes produced nothing.  No peppers either.  My beans were crushed by the neighbor's falling tree, so nothing there either.  And while the pumpkin vines looked great - I never even had a flower.  All that work - for nothing!   So far, things are going better than last year.  Now if we can get some warm weather, there may be hope for this year's garden.

Adopting Strays

A manager I worked for many years ago provided the phrase I am using as my title to describe our habit of helping friends.  It was her response after hearing about a friend we were helping at the time.  She couldn't claim credit for it as the credit actually went to a friend of hers who had the same habit.

Garbanzo and I have a long history of "adopting strays" if you will.  The fact I am referring to our friends as strays is not meant to belittle them.  These are people who are close to our heart, and we would help out of any situation.  And, they have found themselves in a situation without a home or without food, so we've taken them in to help them out.

Some of my readers may wonder how and the hell can we do this.  I mean, we're grown-ups with our own lives and with kids who will at a moments notice offer to take someone into our house.  Sounds crazy, huh?  Sound disruptive?  Trying to live with another adult after its taken years to figure out how to live with Garbanzo.  And all of these things are welcomed with open arms.  I never said we weren't crazy.

For me personally, this behavior was modeled for me by my parents.  Regardless of our financial and living situation, we were always the "dependable ones" willing to help.  My dad, when asked by us kids, would always reply simply with "what goes around, comes around."  I doubt even he knew at the time he was talking about Karma.  I do know he was doing exactly what he was raised to do - help people.

Ever since we were first married, we were the ones that helped friends in need.  My college friend came and slept on our couch for several months right after she graduated.  She was trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life.  She couldn't go home because of a bad family situation.  So, she moved to Oregon and slept on our couch as she tried to get her bearings.  Was it stressful?  Towards the end it was.  She hated being a burden, so she withdrew into herself.  Makes it hard to live with someone who isn't talking to you because she doesn't want to burden you with her problems.  In the end, it was all resolved.  She went on to become a fire fighter, of all things, and she still thanks us for the time on our couch where it gave her the ability to figure out her next move without stress.

Or there is our friend who needed the occasional meal.  We laughed because he thought he was being clever about showing up to "visit" near mealtime, but we always knew what he was looking for - an invite to stay for dinner.  We always had extra, so he always had an invite.  He had been laid off from his job - was making enough to keep a roof over his head, but always had questions about what he was going to eat next time.  In the end, he always gave us something in return.  Maybe it was helping with yard work - or volunteering to stay with the girls if we needed to go out.  He would bring us gifts he would trade work for as a way of saying thank you.

In many cases, our goal in offering help is to eliminate one worry in someone's life so that they can focus on the longer term goal.  For example, we lived with Garbanzo's grandpa after his grandma died of cancer.  The goal was to give him time.  Everyone was pressuring him to make a decision immediately after her death.  Garbanzo and I disagreed with their goal to get him to make an immediate decision about where he would live and what he was going to do.  I mean, the man's wife of 52 years just died.  Give him some time to grieve.  And, that is exactly what we offered him.  Time.  We knew no one would pressure him if we were living there.  He liked the idea, so that's what we did.  In the end, it was the greatest thing we could have given him.  If we hadn't done that, he may not have met his second wife - a wonderful woman who loved and cherished him until his death a few years ago.

Has doing this lead to some pain in the past?  Yes.  We almost lost a very good friend once.  But, the situation really changed the course of his life in a way nothing else had been able to do.  About 6 months later, he came back and apologized profusely for what had happened.  The relationship is fine now.  We had all been friends for too long.  And, he clearly grew and changed from the situation.  The second time was with regards to our ex-nanny.  I should write about that sometime. (I know I have said that a couple of times, but, to be honest, I haven't known where to start. It is quite the story.)  In the end, we learned a lot about our relationship - so all was not lost.

Which leads me to last Friday.  I read a friend's blog and learned of an issue that has suddenly appeared involving his housing.  The woman who owns the house (his roommate) has made a very questionable decision.  A decision that could leave him in a very unsafe (IMO) situation.  He tried talking her out of it, but she is too trusting at this point.  Reading the blog post, I knew immediately he needed out of there.   So, in the comments, that is exactly what I offered - him a place to live.  Then I emailed Garbanzo to let him know I had done it.  (Garbanzo agreed!) He is a very good friend.  We trust him (hell, we've left him with our kids for the weekend once, and will be doing it again soon - clearly we trust him.) He moves in this weekend.

If you pay attention to my blog listing on the left-hand side, his blog is listed there.  He writes Thoughts of a Princessa Mexico - aka Mexi.  He is moving in with us this upcoming weekend.  Everyone is excited.  We love Mexi.  He is a good guy. We told the girls we were getting them a big brother.  They are thrilled.  Too bad, they are going to learn fast that Mexi is a teacher too.  At dinner Sunday, when Indigo was messing around instead of eating, he used his teacher voice on her.  It was hilarious.

We simply do what we would hope someone would do for us if the tables were turned.  Give something good to the universe in the hopes the universe is kind in return.  Garbanzo would say this is being a good Buddhist.  At the very least, we hope we are teaching our kids to be willing to help a friend in need.

Day 115 - El Frijole

This is Garbanzo.  Garbanzo is our Siamese cat we have had for 14 years now.  He only has half a tail.  The other half was removed when he was a kitten.  No idea how he broke it, but I do know it would not heal, so I demanded the vet just remove it.  The vet was still trying to "save it", but to put it bluntly, the tail was getting rather crunchy.  I felt it was time to admit the truth.

Garbanzo is my arch-nemesis.  While we were once friends, now we do battle.  You see, Garbanzo believes that Garbanzo (yes, this is confusing) is the only one that should sleep in the bed.  The cat tries to make it difficult for me by sleeping on my head.  Or walking on me at night - he is a very heavy cat.  And Garbanzo the Cat likes to, shall we say, try to disrupt activities that he should not be a part of.  I have thrown him off the bed on more than one occasion.

Garbanzo has bit his share of visitors to our house.  Everyone walks in and immediately comments "what a beautiful cat!"  Then he bites them despite my warnings.  He lures them in by acting like he is friendly, then draws blood.

We have nicknamed Garbanzo - El Frijole, El Jefe of the Free-Frijole Revolution.  In the summers, he sits in the open windows yowling as loudly as he can.  Cats from the neighborhood will come onto our porch to see him. We call these is political speeches from behind bars.  You see. Garbanzo is a political prisoner.  Never allowed to leave.  Held against his will.  And, tortured by the vet and dogs.  At least, that is how he acts.

Now you know a bit more about the cat that gave Garbanzo his blog-name.  The crazy Siamese who allows us the honor of living in the house and serving him.

Strange Rules

Sending the kids to bed at night is never a simple task.  It usually involves at least two visits from them.  They may be looking for something or tattling on the other.  They are pretty predictable that way.

The other night's visit was not quite expected.  Garbanzo was out, and Indigo suddenly appeared rambling on about the new rule that DJ was violating.  Huh? Explain please.

"Papa said that DJ can't use sign language until July."

HUH?

DJ's teacher is deaf.  She was taught to read lips very early in her life - it was the way they used to ensure the deaf kids could be mainstreamed.  She tells some very interesting stories about how they "taught" her to be "normal", if you will.  I find it quite scary because she is my age which means this was the medical thinking in my lifetime.  Anyway, when she got older, she learned signed language and now uses both.  And, to be open about her deafness with the kids, she teaches them sign language....a lot of sign language.

Anyway, I told Indigo that she would have to take that up with Garbanzo because I am not familiar with the rule. And back to bed she went.

I hadn't remembered this until we were laying in bed talking.  I asked him if there was some rule about sign language and DJ.

He said there was, but it wasn't the one Indigo had told me.

It seems on the way home from taekwondo, Indigo had asked DJ a question.  Instead of just ignoring her sister like she has a way of doing, DJ answered her in sign language.  This made Indigo mad, so she asked the question louder.  Again, DJ answered her in sign language.   By this point Indigo is going crazy.  She can't tell on her sister for ignoring her; Indigo wasn't being ignored.  Indigo simply couldn't understand the answer.

By this time, Garbanzo get involved.  After learning what was happening, he instituted the rule.  The new rule is you must answer your sister in a way she understands.  Sign language is acceptable, but only if you are also using your voice.

At this point in the story, I am laughing so hard I am crying. I didn't need to be there.  I can totally see the whole thing happening.

We are in so much fucking trouble as these two get older.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
As a side note, Popo is not a typo.  DJ decided a year ago to dub Garbanzo Popo and me Momo.  I have no idea why.  I think it started as a joke, and she decided it was better than mom and dad.  So, I call her Dodo.  It all works out.

Day 114 - Sunday Dinner

We usually don't do anything special for Sunday dinner, but tonight we had a friend over for dinner.  Our plan yesterday to make risotto out of our Farmer's Market finds was delayed.  We decided to wait for him.

I'll talk more about our friend in a couple days.  Dinner tonight was important, so we did what any adult did, and serve alcohol.  Three adults, two bottles of wine - it was a relaxing night for all - at least for me.  I had had a big breakfast (for me) and had exercised in the afternoon.  By dinner I was starving.  Garbanzo being the good man he is poured me a glass of wine as I was cooking.  I poured myself another one with dinner.  And our friend poured me another one after dinner.  Needless to say, I am one relaxed person tonight.  I just hope I don't regret this tomorrow.

Our risotto consisted of:

Asparagus, shallots, onion, carrots, wild mushrooms - and celery (not shown.) It was yummy!  I had Garbanzo pick up some pancetta which we fried up and put on top of ours.  A perfect addition.

When you don't know exactly which wine to buy, buy the one with the cool label.  At least that's our philosophy.  I mean you are guessing anyway - so why not have an explanation behind your guess.  This wine - really good.  I'll be buying more.  Pinot Gris reminds me of summer.  Until about 6pm, the weekend had been overcast and cool.  The sun came out for the evening, so Pinot Gris made me think of summer.

This wine was good too. I think I liked the other one better.  This one was a bit too sweet for me.  Not a good balance.  Listen to me, sounding like a wine expert or something.  As a friend once told me, drink what you like.

I also have a rule when drinking wine with men.  I only pour for myself, or let them pour if my glass is empty and I am supervising.  I drank with three men after sailing one night.  From the way I felt the next day, I drank one of the three bottles myself.  They never let my glass get empty or even close to it.  Polite, yes - a good idea on a school night, NO.

And a totally random garden picture.  Actually, it isn't random.  I love poppies, and that is what these will be.  I love how they emerge from the plant.  I'll let you all decide what they look like - if anything.

Day 113 - The Farmer's Market

Armed with my Nikon D80 outfitted with my new lens, we went to the Farmer's Market after dropping of DJ at her Girl Scout thing.  This time of the year, our Farmer's Market has flowers, veggie starts, asparagus, and various root veggies.  Mixed in are all of the little mom & pop cheese stands, bakeries, smoked salmon and farm fresh eggs.

Our goal was to find tomato plants and which ever other veggies we could find.  The rest of the stuff was just bonus really.

There was a pickle stand with various pickled veggies. Garbanzo got the "variety pack". Pickled veggies are very popular in our house.  Indigo just stood there jumping up and down saying she wanted a giant pickle.  She got one and proceeded to eat it in about 1 minute. 

We got some of these mushrooms as well as a bunch of asparagus.  Tonight, we are making risotto for dinner.  Yum!!

These are called Fiddleheads.  They are the unfurled fronds of young ferns that are edible.  People were going crazy over them today.  I blame Anthony Bordain's Pacific NW Episode where they ate them on a camp out.  I suspect that is what has thrust them into popularity.

I mentioned that our family loves pickled veggies right?  I caught Garbanzo eating them while Indigo and I were getting carrots and baby bok choy.  He even looks guilty.

Indigo was in heaven because the wood baked baked goods place was there with fresh from the wood oven bagels.  She loves her bagels.  

And, I should mention that our goal of finding tomato plants was met.  I have three different kinds.  With the exception of the brandy wine, the other two are new varieties for me.  One is called an Amish Tomato - super fleshy with few seeds.  The other are cherry tomatoes called Chocolate Cherry.  They are a "port color" and very sweet.  I guess we'll see.  I also got some basil because DJ has informed me that I will be making lots of pesto this summer.  As weird as it sounds, she fell in love with pesto while in Mexico.  

Overall, the trip to the market was cut short by the fact it is so fucking cold outside compared to how it has been.  I felt I needed my winter coat on instead of just my polar fleece.  How pathetic is that!

The rest of the day will be spent getting the house pulled together.  We may have a friend come and stay with us.  This is a friend that is more like a member of our family.  More details to come.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Day 112 - Usual Friday

Fridays are pretty predictable in our family.  Usually it involves me working my ass off to get out of work before 4pm, so I can meet the family at the taekwondo school.  DJ is a member of Black Belt Club (kids focused on getting their black belt), and she has weapons training class.  They are still on swords, but that is a topic left for another post.

After Black Belt Club, the girls participate in the sparring class.  DJ lives for sparring class.  Indigo likes the idea more than the practice.  She is getting better though.  There is a lot of waiting between matches which usually results in Indigo losing interest.  But, she's 6.

Usually while they spar, Garbanzo and I will take the opportunity to walk to Starbucks for a coffee and a quick discussion about our days.  It's nice having those few minutes alone.

Today was just like the other days.

Garbanzo gave me weird looks.  Yes, he is a foot taller than me.  If he wasn't, I would have had to take this picture on my knees.  (Get your mind out of the gutter - I know at least one of you who went there!)  You know, due the distance required between the camera and my subject.  Have I mentioned I need a new lens?  My birthday is coming, Garbanzo.  (Okay - no more hints needed.  He was reading over my shoulder and just handed me a box....with my lens in it!! Woo-hoo!!)

Both girls were matched up next to each other.  They bow to their partners before the start beating each other up.  You know - because it's polite.

Then, especially if you are DJ, you start beating up the black belt you have been paired to fight.  Poor DJ - she sparred every round without rest.  I shouldn't say "poor DJ" - she was a big sweaty mess afterwards, but grinning ear-to-ear.  Guess she wasn't too upset by it.

Then afterwards, if we don't feel like cooking - we get take out from either the Vegan Thai Restaurant or the Bento/Sushi Place.  I don't think of it as being lazy.  I think of it as supporting the local economy during these rough times.

Friday Week in Review

This week has been a week of ups and downs, or so it seems.

The weather Monday and Tuesday was amazing.  To go from 50 degree weather to 70-80 degree weather was fantastic.  We were able to get so much done outside, and the kids were thrilled to be able to play outside without jackets.  (Which of course made me happy because I wasn't ordering them away from the TV.)  But, the 50 degree weather is back.  They promise 70 next week, but we won't hold our breath.

Work has also been up and down like the weather.  Monday and Tuesday were dead.  Nothing going on - and way too quiet for our liking.  The upside was the fact I got out of there early both days.  The downside was the fact I got slammed with work on Wednesday and Thursday.  Wednesday, I had to block of my calendar so I could eat lunch.

We have a huge project underway. A project to replace our major business system - the one that drives all aspects of our company.  This requires a huge rework of our processes as well as rework to all of our other touch points with vendors, partners and other systems.  HUGE undertaking.  The consultants or thieves (thanks, Hubman, I like that name for them better) are behind schedule by at least one week.  They were to learn about 11 integrations we have, document them, write up the technical specification for how to make them work in the new system, and present them to us for approval.  They have 8 people working on them for the past 4 weeks now.  We are not done.  And, you figure with 8 people working on them, the work would be pretty decent.  Not the case.  I have kicked at least 11 of their 22 documents back to them for rework.  And the mistake - stupid mistake, mistakes they could have totally avoided, but mistakes that would screw up development.

In the meantime, they represented to my boss that her staff was not being "helpful".  After she and I had an interesting interaction about it, I got the full story with the thieves' onsite manager.  We finally had a big meeting about this issue - and it was all brought to light.  They were not communicating with us - but instead presented her with a stack of change orders to do the work outlined.  She pushed back on them because change orders mean more money we have to spend on this project  - and they tried to throw her staff under the bus.  I am happy to say, all of this came out in this meeting.  The downside for the thieves is that they pissed off the staff they are dependent upon, so I wish them luck.

I decided this week at work that this place isn't as lively without our Irish business architect in the office.  Kate hurt her back many years ago, and it healed only giving her occasional grief.  Each time, she was able to deal with it using treatments, etc.  A few weeks ago, she had another flare-up - the worst one to date.  She can't sit, stand, or lie down.  Many doctor's visits, MRIs, and x-rays later, they think they need to do surgery.   The poor lady is now working from home part-time while she manages the pain with drugs.  Kate is a fucking riot to have around.  She grew up in Ireland and moved to the US as an adult.  Her stories about going to the all-girl catholic schools and traveling around Ireland with her friends are some of the best.  And the way she talks about and drinks a Guinness is pure entertainment.  The way Kate deals with difficult people is also great.  She is an engineer by training, but transitioned to this role over the past few years.  The way Kate handles those engineers is fantastic.  I usually sit back in the corner and laugh during those meetings.  Maybe that's why I'm missing her - we need her wit and humor in some of these Engineering meetings we've had lately.  Having her drugged up on the phone just isn't the same.  Hopefully she gets some good news soon, so we can have her back.

Related to technology but more about home, a week or so ago, I signed us up for a local WiMAX service called Clear.  I had been hearing about it, but didn't quite understand the offering until I had someone show up on the doorstep.  I'm a geek, he was an "expert", so my plan was to take advantage of him and his knowledge.  WiMAX, to quote the literature, is a combination of 4G technology on cell phones but runs at broadband speeds.   Think broadband speeds over a wireless connection.  Unlike broadband where the capacity is shared by you and all of your neighbors which means your speed varies depending on the number of people online at the time, this is not a shared bandwidth situation.  You buy the bandwidth you want which is pretty much on par with the way the DSL works.  And the prices - a hell of a lot better than Comcast or Qwest.  Oh, and since their router connects to their network via wireless, I was able to validate all of their claims using my own computer and running my own tests before I had to commit to anything. Literally, he plugged in his router to power, and I plugged the ethernet into my Mac.

I was sold.  It will save us about $10-15 per month (only because I signed up for more bandwidth given the number of Internet devices on our network). It would have been about $20 if I had gone with a lower bandwidth option.  We've been using it now for a week - and I'm still not disappointed.  And, we are one step closer to being rid of Comcast.  To be fair, Comcast has had great service.  But, they keep raising the prices dramatically, in some cases.  Our cable alone has gone up almost $50 over the past few years, and I keep downgrading the channels.  I am starting to get annoyed because I don't mind paying more, if I felt like I was getting more for it.  Sadly, this is not the case, in my opinion.

From what I understand, Clear is a brand under Clearwire which is the WiMAX provider in more markets around the US.  I figured I would throw that into the post in case you are intrigued and wondering if it is available near you.  I'm hoping my happiness with it lasts.

Our weekend is going to be a bit unusual.  DJ is going to a Brownie play-day where they earn patches.  Because she bridges to Junior Girl Scouts in a few weeks, her troop gets to stay overnight and do Junior activities.  She is excited because she will be meeting girls from other troops, and the theme will be the environment which means science which means DJ will be in heaven.

Indigo has been upset because she wanted to be in Girl Scouts this year.  But, no one volunteered to lead the troop.  Garbanzo and I did some checking recently and found that next year will have the same problem.  Since there are kids interested, we are going to likely lead her Brownie troop next year.  I'm actually excited because I loved Girl Scouts as a kid - and here's the funny part: this exact same thing happened when I was a Brownie.  And it resulted in my mom and dad taking over the troop.  My dad was the first male to lead a troop in that part of Iowa.  They did it for three years before turning it over to another set of parents.  After that, Girl Scouts was never as fun.

So, we are going to be DJ-less for 36 hours.  Indigo may love that or hate it.  I'm already anticipating the "but I can't sleep alone with DJ" argument as to why she should sleep on the couch.  But it also means Sunday should be fun too because DJ will be exhausted.  It may be a quiet weekend!  Here's hoping!

Day 111 - It Begins

The wisteria is starting round 1 of its annual explosion.  More pictures will be taken as it happens.

If you go back to the pictures from last Saturday & Sunday, you see the size of it.  It covers that area at that top of the driveway....the whole thing.  When it blooms, it will be spectacular.  And the smell is amazing.  This is one of the ways I know spring is here and summer is around the corner.

The wisteria was given to me the Mother's Day after DJ was born.  Nine years later, the wisteria is definitely happy where it lives.  While most will bloom once, mine has been known to bloom 2-3 times during the spring and summer.  During the summer, we dine under it.  No wonder why I think of summer when I see it bloom.

Ganging Up

Over the weekend, we met some of the neighbors that live in the four-plex next door. They have done a great job keeping up the yard and such, and we offered them some of our left over compost for their gardens.

They started asking us what we thought of the neighbor closest to us - you know, the one with all of the cars. In true Emmy fashion, I told them exactly what I thought of his yard, the cars, and his perpetual garage sale. They both laughed and said they were relieved to hear it.

They also shared with us the fact the people in all three of the units had complained to the owner of the property, but their complaints fall on deaf ears. George, the man with the cars and such, is an older black man - and they suspect, based on the owner's comments, that he is suffering from "white man's guilt" - so he won't enforce the rules. He continually makes excuses for the man.

I should mention that everyone who has lived in that place has had a problem with George regardless of their race and sex. George is a difficult man to deal with; he runs very hot or very cold. When you talk to him, you never know if you are going to get the nice guy or the raging asshole. Regardless of his mood, he likes to blame everyone for stuff that he has a pretty large hand in himself. For example, the time he blamed us for being responsible for the mud in his house. We had had dirt delivered, it was pouring down rain (the weather people were wrong again!), and instead of walking behind his car - he was walking thru the dirt and mud. Again, his choice was our fault. Go figure. This example is par for the course from the stories we have heard over the years.

This couple is done with the garage sale business he has started. I guess their car has been getting tagged by graffiti. And, the four-plex garages were suddenly targets of graffiti as well. George put up a tent outside of one of the garages, and they have chased people out of it at night. People who are doing "transactions" if you will because they are sheltered from the streets.

We had a HUGE problem with a drug dealing in our neighborhood about 5 years ago. Garbanzo and I played a large role in getting the dealers evicted and making it difficult to do business. We do not want this back in our neighborhood.

Last summer, we had someone run through our yard to escape the police (the joys of living in the city). They hid in George's yard behind his tent. Since they ran under our bedroom window & I heard them, Garbanzo went outside in his kilt at 3am - and pointed this guy out to he police. According to the neighbors, this occurred soon after George's unit was broken into. So, this became another catalyst.

These guys were at a loss of what to do next.

Garbanzo has a friend. A friend who works for the city. A friend who happens to work for the development office in the city - the office that handles zoning, complaints, permits, etc. A friend who told us exactly how to file a complaint. And exactly which city ordinances and zoning laws George is violating....gave us the exact numbers and everything. He even gave us key phrases to use when filing the complaint. We filed the complaint, a case worker has been assigned, and now we wait.

While confirming the address, I went online to the city's property map feature. Type in the address and it will tell you everything about that property including prior complaints, taxes over the past several years, last time the house sold, etc. It's a great site. Turns out, there have been two prior complaints filed against George over the last 9 months. All resulted in the owner getting letters of warning. This complaint should be interesting given the fact he is in greater violation than he was the last two times.

We gave all of the info to the neighbors who are going to file a complaint. They are going to give it to the other neighbors in the four-plex too.

It may seem like we are all being bastards about this situation, but crime is our main issue here. We feel this crap is inviting it back into the neighborhood. With all of our kids being outside and playing, the last thing we want is some meth-heads coming into the neighborhood. Like I said, we live in the city.

So, we will get to experience our city government in action! Let's hope it doesn't let me down. Garbanzo's friend's advice: Sit back and let the magic happen.

Oh, I hope it does!

Day 110 - Banana Bread

Garbanzo likes to bake.  He also likes to surprise people with things.  So when a friend of ours asked if he made banana bread, he decided to make her some as a surprise.  He told her he was going to do it, but  I am always surprised at how people don't take him seriously.

So tonight, I ran it over to her.  She was happy, but not too surprised.  I had forgotten that she had heard the story about Garbanzo making a sample wedding cake for our friends - after he made an off-hand remark about how he would make their cake for them.

It was fun playing delivery driver.  Garbanzo decided I was his "Emmy-sary".  Isn't he clever?

I got to hang out with friends for an hour.  And, I got to play with their beautiful German Shepherd which was a bonus.  Not a bad Wednesday!

You Know You're A Technology Geek When:

• You send email to your cubical neighbor instead of just talking to him.
• You use IM to talk with your cubical neighbor instead of talking to him.
• You have a pile of power cords and adapters for computer things, but you don't know where those computer things are.
• You have more ethernet cables than networkable devices.
• A non-technology person asks if the sentence you just spoke was English.
• You can speak a full sentence in acronyms - I'm not talking the kind you use in IM or texting.
• You have a drawer full of unopened manuals for the various high tech devices. You might need them.
• But, when you do need them, you look them up online instead.
• You also have most of the boxes those same devices were packaged in. You might need them.
• Oh, and you never need those boxes.
• You have more beta software on your computer than non-beta software.
• You know when the next software rev will be released for many of your devices as well as what features will and will not be included.
• Somewhere in your house is a land of misfit hardware devices - printers, keyboards, mice, old MP3 players, external CD-ROM writers, old webcams, monitors, etc. Why not get rid of them? You may need them for something!
• You have three computers sitting under your desk, and none are hooked up.
• You have a shelf full of technology books, your name is on them in case they are borrowed, yet the spines of the books don't even have a crease in them. Worse yet - you buy the same book twice because you don't think you have it.

This is an actual list of observations I made of myself as well as those on my team. We are a sad bunch of geeks.

Now if you'll excuse me now, I must get rid of a few things...

Day 109 - Smelly

These are laurel bushes.
They produce flowers.
The flowers are very smelly.
It is not a pleasant smell.
It smells as though something is rotting.
These bushes are lucky they pretty and their blooms are short-lived, because if they weren't, they would be gone.

Oh, and notice that amazing blue sky.  We had our 3rd 80 degree day in a row.
The rain returns tomorrow.  It's Oregon, so we didn't expect it to last.

Day 108 - Spelling

There are a few times when spelling is important. On your resume. On a
college application. In you senior thesis. When you are printing an ad
campaign seen by millions of people. And when you are making signs for
a school fundraiser.

We were browsing the books at the used book sale at his school, when
Garbanzo noticed it. After this picture was taken, he found a sharpie
and corrected it English teacher style.

The true irony was the fact they were selling a dictionary right next
to the sign.

A Good Audience

Last week, we were out with another couple and swapping stories as is likely to happen especially with new friends. One of the stories was about cast parties.  Garbanzo and the male half of the couple were both theater geeks, and they were comparing experiences at cast parties, which from the sounds of it were quite the interesting affairs.


They were talking about how much more fun these parties were in comparison to the regular parties which were all about drinking and getting laid.  Sure, these parties had those undertones, but you throw a bunch of outgoing performers in a room, the drinking games, from what I could tell, become more creative.


One they were talking about was where you had to make someone in the room laugh.  I had made the comment I would be the target of these people all night because anyone can make me laugh.


The male half of the couple's response: "Ahh....you're a good audience."


It's funny how something can so succinctly describe me like those few words.  I have a long history of being a good audience.  This history goes back to when I was 9 and when I was the "good girl" who was placed at the table group with the two class clowns.  The hope, by the teacher, was that I would bring calm to their antics.  Instead, I gave them a good audience.  I got into a lot of trouble those two months....for laughing, mainly.  


Or the time when I got thrown out of PE when I was 12.  The teacher had just said "the next person who is screwing around is out of here!".....just as someone made a face at me, thus making me laugh.  Out of class I was thrown.  That was the day I learned from the guy who had been thrown out earlier that the PE teacher kept Playboys hidden in one of the drawers of his office.  Three of the guys in the class had discovered it, so were taking turns getting thrown out of class.  If you were tossed from class, you got to sit in his office unsupervised.  


And the countless times I tried hard not to laugh.  My chemistry teacher in high school used to get mad at me for laughing at inappropriate times....but then again, I wasn't alone in it, and he didn't have a sense of humor.


PE usually resulted in me running extra laps for getting into trouble for laughing.  That never bothered me too much until the year my cross country coach was my PE teacher.  His running punishment usually was seen as an opportunity to give me an extra workout....nothing like running for an hour during class which didn't really bother me....until he started setting lap expectations during that time.  


And I won't even go into my family's entertainment at large family meals.  We'll just call it "Let's see if we can make Emmy laugh while she's drinking something."  To this day, I do not have anything to drink during a family meal.  Between my youngest brother and my dad....it is never good.


I have a long, LONG history of being a good audience.


This was put to the test, once again, when Mr Chatty, my cohort, showed up in my cubicle.  Garbanzo had just IM'd me about something when I told him "1 sec...Mr Chatty is here"....big mistake.


Mr Chatty cannot see what is on my screen unless I turn it.  But, I could see what was on my screen.  I should have minimized the window in hindsight.....


Up on my screen comes...


"Maybe you could stab him with a fork?"


I was happy that Mr Chatty said something where a chuckle was appropriate so I could cover my response to Garbanzo's comment.


"Or burst in to tears and run from the room?"


My eyes started to read that line, but stopped when I almost burst into laughter.


I was glad I didn't see this last comment until after Mr Chatty left. I would not have been able to hold it together...


"Or suddenly stop understanding English?"


I would have lost it....like I did an hour earlier when in a long meeting I got a note that distracted me and almost made me laugh hysterically.  A coworker's response to an issue was very clever.  I was proud that I had held it together....until I realized I had missed what was being talked about as the VP of Engineering asked me a question.  I covered my distraction with him, but not the Director of Electrical Engineering who found it hilarious.  


Just call me "a good audience"....

Day 107 - She-Ra

If you recall back to yesterday's picture of the day, the driveway was full of dirt.

Today:

Almost 4 cubic yards of dirt and compost were moved....by me....and only me.  Today alone, I moved 34 wheelbarrow loads of compost.  Between yesterday and today, I probably moved at least 50 in total.  And, I am feeling each and every load.  I'm sure tomorrow will be worse.

The rest (which is shown at the bottom of the picture) was given two a couple different neighbors who have vegetable gardens.  Both were grateful for it - because it's the mushroom compost which does great things in the garden,

Let me give you a glimpse of what was done...

A clean backyard.  No weeds, lawn mostly mowed, compost contained and new bed installed, and all dog messes are gone.

Here is a close-up view.  The square bed in the corner is the new one.  19 loads of dirt and compost were required to fill it.  All of the beds look over-full for a reason.  Everything was pretty dry, and it will settle.    I will find out if I am correct that assumption after it rains this week.

Here is my herb garden.....ready for herbs.....and full of dirt.  We'll see how soon it is before one of the dogs get in it and digs it up.  Yeah, I'm an optimist.

A few days ago, I mentioned how dandelions were food in our yard...food for the guinea pig.  Garbanzo decided he was done with them and pulled them all up.  Actually it's the weed puller.  He rediscovered it and spent the afternoon weeding the front and backyard.

There were just a few dandelions in our yard.  One of the neighbors we gave compost to is a couple we haven't really met until today.  We've said hello, but that was about it.  She was lamenting the fact their yard is full of weeds.  He started bragging about the weed puller and loaned it to her.  It isn't one of those garden weasel things you see on TV.  It is an old style weed puller that is also a very good lesson in levers.  Last I saw, she was out there pulling all of the weeds in their yard.  That should help us all in the long run.

Tomorrow, my goal is to get to work early so I can leave work early.  If all goes to plan, I can get to the nursery and buy the rest of the plants needed to fill said raised beds.  I have to do this while I still can.  It rains starting on Wednesday.

We did plant some seeds.  The snap peas, sugar pie pumpkins, cantaloupe, cucumbers, and spinach are all planted.  I need to get some tomatoes, lettuce, beans, and basil & anything else that strikes me while I am at the nursery.

All in all, it was a productive weekend.  I am afraid, however, I may need a weekend to recover from it.

Day 106 - Playing in the Dirt

The weather in Portland this weekend promises to be in the 70s.  While I'm not sure we got there today, I clearly am not complaining as I'm outside working in shorts and a t-shirt.

Knowing we would have a dry weekend, only the second in the last two months, I decided I needed to plant the garden.  I'm about two weeks late of the first frost-free day for this area.  I can't contemplate planting until  I put more dirt into the raised bed in the backyard.  Having two labs has reduced the amount of dirt in those beds.  They like to dig - and if there is nothing preventing them from jumping in the beds, they dig the dirt out of the beds too.

We had three different kinds of dirt delivered.  Black soil, compost and mushroom compost.  I like variety, what can I say.  Actually I know the value of mixing it up in the veggie beds. And in my beds its a foursome, I guess.  Sorry, felt I just needed to run with the innuendos.   Anyway, certain types of plants like more decaying material (compost) than others.  You won't find me getting out the soil testing kit to determine alkaline levels, etc.  I don't got that far.  I just know that you have to have a good blend.  I should mention that I have sandy loam in the boxes as well....I used it as fill dirt to make sure the drainage was good.  I mixed it all of it up to make sure I had a good balance.   And thru out the spring and summer, I'll be mixing in the used coffee grounds in with tomato plants.  They like coffee (it is also good for the soil.)

Probably the funniest exchange I had with the dirt guy was over the compost.  He dumped it, and then apologized for the smell promising it would get better in a day or so.  I told him if the compost didn't smell, I would question what he brought me.  I mean, it's decaying...it is going to smell.  A look of relief washed over his face.  Apparently this is a point many of his customers miss when ordering compost.

I have a little over half of this pile distributed into flower beds and raised beds.  The rest is for the new raised bed we are going to build tomorrow.  We now have light in the back corner of our yard, so I'm going to take advantage of it.  We tried to grow pumpkins last year, but missed our window thus resulting in no pumpkins.  I figure that space will be perfect for the pumpkins I will be planting on time this year.

When I got done moving dirt - or when I decided I was done moving dirt, I moved onto mowing the lawn.  Each year at this time, we are faced with the lawn issue.  Rain plus the warmer weather means our  grass (and weeds) grow extremely fast.  Problem is - the rain.  Mowing wet grass is a mess.  But, then the grass gets too tall and the continual days of sun are so few that it won't dry until mowed.  I have about 90% of the lawn mowed.  

Why so slow?  Besides the height of the grass, I have the fun surprises hidden in it thanks to having two dogs.  It is a stop and go process.....more stop than go unfortunately.

Oh, and another fun fact I got from my youngest brother today.  If you hear "playing in the dirt" in a rap song, they are referring to anal sex.  He let me know this fun fact when he replied to my Facebook status.  Nice, huh?  Gotta love family!

Neighborhood Bully

When we first moved into our house almost 10 years ago, there were really no kids in the neighborhood.  Or, kids under the age of 12 is a more accurate statement.

The neighborhood was a combination of rentals and new owners.  The longtime owners had already raised their kids and were empty nesters.  But even those people were few and far between.

We had hope though.  We represented the people buying into the neighborhood.  People who didn't want to live in the suburbs (not that there is anything wrong with that) and who would rather be part of a renewal effort of this old neighborhood.  Or, at the very least, weren't put off by the once violent history of North Portland.

North Portland was the site of gang violence during the 80s and early 90s.  Drugs, gangs, drive-by shootings were all the norm.  A handful of the older residents in our neighborhood tell stories about creating watch groups which would actively patrolled the 3-block by 3-block neighborhood which makes up our little area.  They told stories about logging activities, working with police and literally chasing this out of the neighborhood. They were proud of what they had done.  Proud that they could create a place for their kids that was safe and without this crime.  Jimmy who is now in his 60s still proudly tells the story - he was the ring leader of their efforts.  He had a daughter, and he wanted to keep her safe.

Today, there are kids everywhere.  DJ is one of 6 nine year olds in the neighborhood - and the only girl.  Indigo and two others are in the minority age wise, but like all little kids they are determined to keep up.

There is a single mom who lives next door to us who has three kids - 9, 5, 3.  She works her ass off to keep food on the table and a roof over their head.  She is a proud woman who never asks for help despite the fact any one of us would help her out.  She is embarrassed when someone helps her as I think her goal is to not be a burden.

Her oldest child is a 9 year old boy.  She puts a lot of responsibility on him - a lot more than a normal 9 year old has or, in some cases, should have.  As a result, he has become the bully.  He picks on his siblings, he picks on my kids, he picks on the other kids.  DJ tends to be his focus though.  Why?  She isn't a follower like the others.  If he is being a jerk, she walks away.  And, if pushed, she will tell him why.

I should point out that he is not doing the "I like a girl, so I'm punching her" sort of thing which is normal at this age.  He is mean.  He picks on her.  He tries to tell her she isn't as strong as he is.  He is always challenging her.   This was his mistake.

Last night, the kids were all outside playing.  All seemed well.  The dogs are pretty tuned into this gang of kids and the treatment of our kids within it.  As odd as it sounds, if they start going nuts, I know something bad is happening that will require an adult.  They are always right.  Last night, they were calm.  All seemed to be well.  Our checks outside confirmed it.

DJ came running into the house.  This is the norm when the weather is nice, so I didn't think of it.  Until Garbanzo went storming out of the house.  I asked DJ what had happened.

The bully had decided to grab her arm, she asked him to let go, she tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let go.  So, she used her Haikito (taekwondo self defense) on him.....successfully.  This managed to make him mad.  She had shown him up - and, well, the fact she is the only girl probably had something to do with it as well. Each time he tried to show her up by trying to hurt her, she turned the tables on him.  I think she said she had him on the ground at one point.  (I am actually impressed if she did that because this is the latest Haikito that had given her grief mainly because to do it properly, you risk hurting someone.  She's being a little too shy about using.)  When she let him up, he tried to kick and hit her.  She is really fast, and ran home.  She knew that she could really hurt him if she were to kick back - and decided it was time for an adult.

The last time this happened, DJ didn't say anything.  She didn't fight back at all.  In fact, it took some prodding before she told us what had happened.  We pointed out that she could use her taekwondo - especially her Haikito - in situations like that.  I mean, that is one of the reasons you learn it - self-defense.  She was so wrapped up in the promise to never use it outside of class that the thought hadn't even crossed her mind.  The fact she just reacted and let herself use it, but showed self control over which parts she used was something that made us proud.

I think she surprised herself too.  She was not upset that it happened.  If anything, she was feeling powerful.  She had taken care of herself, didn't get hurt, and showed the neighborhood boys that she was  not weak.   I will now have to officially stop worrying that she won't take care of herself if the situation arises.  I now know that she will not be passive, but will stand up for herself.   Until this incident, I was not sure.

Oh, and I should mention that Garbanzo whipped out the teacher voice on that kid.  Fifteen minutes after he came in, I went out and all of the kids were gone.  I can't help but wonder if their mom had heard and pulled the kids inside.  These are times when I'm glad I'm married to a teacher.  He just knows how to handle the kids and parents - and not create a war amongst the neighbors.

With the nice weekend we are expected to have, it will be interesting to see how things go with the kids. I have too much shit to get done outside today, so if they don't watch it, I will put them all to work.  Hmmm....maybe I should hope for that.....

Day 105 - Mud Flaps

As I am walking by this giant black F350 super duty extended cab
truck, I saw the best mud flaps. I'm short, the truck is tall, so it
was all I could really see. Now I want to know who owns the truck: a
woman or a gay man.

My Favorite Food Blogs

I love food blogs. Well done food blogs have great instructions, summarized recipes (for those of us who don't give instructions much of a read), and great pictures so you understand exactly what you are cooking.

Here are some of the sites that make me drool:

Dutch Girl Cooking

Kay has a wide variety of recipes, and her photographs are amazing. Neat site sure to make you hungry just browsing. I have an ever growing list of things I want to try from her site. Now just to find the time to make them.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks 

I love Ree. I love this site. I love her other sites.   And her recipes are fantastic.  I recommend trying herShredded Pork recipe (which is to DIE for!!). Her version of Jamie Oliver's Thai Salad is great! And she keeps it as simple as he does with is another bonus. And, I have also used her version of chocolate sheet cake when I couldn't get my friend's family recipe - he was out of town. I figured they are both from Oklahoma - how different can it be.  It was yummy. I tried all of these recipes last summer when we had a gathering at our house. Everyone LOVED them.

Chocolate & Zucchini

Clotilde Dusoulier is the author of this blog. She has a book by the same name. Living in Paris, you would expect a lot of French food - but her recipes have a lot of variety. I'll be honest. I like short and sweet, and her posts can get a bit wordy....but obviously it hasn't chased me away because I keep going back for ideas.

Some Clever Spoon

Jen is the author of this site. It is relatively new, but she has some great recipes. I want to make her Breakfast Cookies. Hmmm....maybe this weekend.

Gluten-Free Girl

Shauna is a woman, writer, foodie and new mom who's life changed when she was diagnosed with celiac disease. Her blog is well written, tells great stories about her life (which now includes her daughter Little Bean), and cooking adventures with her husband, The Chef. She usually includes a glutten-free recipe which are amazing - and really gives some insight as to what living gluten-free means.

Enjoy...and don't get too hungry browsing them.

Day 104 - Traffic Jam

The weather in Portland is changing for the weekend.  Our days of 45-50 degree days with night time temps of below 40 are going away - and the 70-80 degree weather is coming.  Monday, they expect it to be 80 degrees.

When the weather changes, there is one guarantee.  The traffic will suck.  And, I will find myself like today....

....sitting on the bridge.....waiting to get home.

I have never quite understand why traffic gets like this one the nice days.  Is it because people are eager to get home and doing stupid things?  Today, that was definitely the case.  Accidents everywhere.   Tomorrow should be more fun because the weather will be even nicer.

Happy Birthday Dilbert!

It was 20 years ago today when Dilbert first appeared. And made Scott Adams a corporate hero.

I always loved Dilbert, but must admit that I never fully understood the humor until I started working in Corporate America.   I worked for the pointy haired boss who used to try to coerce the masses with wacky-ass-illogical ramblings.  I think everyone has met a Catbert, the evil HR Director.  Everyone has a coworker like Wally who goes through life doing as little as possible, yet stays employed.  We have all had that overly optimistic intern that gives you the urge to show them the true view of Corporate America.  And, for a time, we employed a Ratbert.  I tagged his work using hot pink post-it notes we found after a Marketing person left.  And whenever he was annoying people because he was bored, I would pull out a drawer full of tangled cables, dump it on the floor, and tell him to untangle them and put them back in the drawer.  Anyway, Happy Birthday Dilbert - thanks for the laughs, and in some cases, the inspiration.

To commemorate the occasion, I thought I would share a few of my favorite...





I couldn't find Meeting Bingo....but I think this does a great job of summarizing the key phrase you need to know in Corporate America. Use them, and you will be viewed as smart or a smart ass...or people won't know. At least that's my personal experience. But, if you use them all in a performance review, the boss will love it.



This is so fucking true!









I have actually said this to a user calling to complain about the slow Internet performance. The dead silence on the end of the phone was funny, but told me I needed to go look at his computer to make sure it wasn't true.



I actually had a boss who went on a Knowledge Management kick. It never yielded any results. Wonder why?



Sadly, our Engineers used to refer to us as Mordac the Preventer. So I would just take more stuff from them.

Day 103 - A Card

Garbanzo bought birthday party invites today. He is feeling like a bad parent because we have not yet been able to schedule DJ's birthday party....a month later. Between school conflicts, travel conflicts, spring break, taekwondo, etc - we have not found a good weekend. My take on the situation is skip it, and let her have a sleep over with a couple friends in the next few months as schedules permit. I mean, the kid got to go to Mexico for Spring Break. Turning 9 has been memorable in other ways. I personally, think she will live. And, I should note, that DJ has not even mentioned it at all. Yet he feels guilty.

Anyway, he bought invites and found a card for me.

The inside says: "Hope you had a swinging day!"

With the guy saying "So, you vote here often".

It's funny... and I appreciate it. It's been a rough couple weeks at work.

But, what occasion is this for? Election Season? Just saying hi? Romantic? Thinking of you?

I guess I forgot to ask him where he found it. Maybe all occasions. There are just too many different ways to take this one.

iPhone Terms of Service Agreement & More

I have had my iPhone for around a month now.  I love it.  I am happy I decided to upgrade to it.  I don't miss my Blackberry, and I like having everything on one device.  It was exactly what I was hoping to accomplish by getting it.

There have been some issues. The main one: you cannot send or receive picture messages in a very elegant fashion.  You can do it via email, but not receive pictures from a cell phone easily.  And, you cannot send one to a cell phone at all.  With a bit of research, I found two apps that get around this issue.  The first is called MMS Buddy which automates the photo retrieval process as implemented by AT&T Wireless.  Works really well.  And to send, I used a program called iSend MMS.  Another good application that is easy to use.  Apple promises to remedy this issue in June with their next software release, but until then, these work really well.

I found on one my favorite sites for Geek Girls like me (The Park Bench) a reprinting of a list from Time Magazine's site. Generally speaking, I do feel the same way as the author.  I will leave you with the :



iPhone Terms of Service Agreement by Matt Selman.  
(http://nerdworld.blogs.time.com/2009/04/07/iphone-terms-of-service-agreement/)
My comments are in bold behind each one.

1)  I agree that whenever I have my iPhone on my person, I will never be fully mentally present. If I am at work, I will be thinking about my iPhone.  If I am with my wife, I will be thinking about my iPhone.  If I am awake and near my iPhone, I will be thinking about my iPhone.   (I'm not quite that bad....Garbanzo can be.  I took his iPhone away after Easter dinner with his folks.)

2)  I agree that I will not check my email ten times a day on the computer.  I will check my email 10,000 times a day on my iPhone.  (Guilty. But, in my defense, I sit in a lot of really boring meetings at work.  It is either play on my phone or fall asleep.)

3)  I agree that I will let my kids take endless blurry photos of the dog with the iPhone camera.  At work, I will painstakingly erase these photos instead of working.  (Nope...I end up spending my time erasing other pictures though, but we won't talk about them.)

4)  I agree that I will immediately shut off the AT&T 3G network, as it is still slow as Hell and drains the batteries fast as Hell and doesn't really seem much faster.  (Worst battery life ever!)

5)  I agree I will never use any of the apps I install – except “LOSE IT!” –which I will enter my daily food intake with the obsessiveness of a lifelong anorexic.  (I'm not that bad.  I use 5 applications on my phone ...even though I have about 15 installed.  But, I have been deleting the unused ones.  And, not just because I'm losing screen space. But I will have to say Lose IT is the greatest application ever!)

6)  I agree I will not feel jealousy as I watch my friends with Blackberries write email and text in actual typing speed, instead of super-slow and careful typo-ridden iPhone speed.  (I won't feel jealous.  Having used a Blackberry for MANY years, typos are par for the course on both. I will have to say some of my typos on the iPhone have been far more entertaining. Thank you auto-correct which auto-corrects wrong!  And, curse words, if not watched closely, will be corrected into less powerful words like duck.)

7)  I agree I will not install any game apps on my iPhone.  Seriously, that would be the end of me. Seriously.  (I don't have a smart ass comment for this one....I don't find much joy playing games on it.  The internet distracts me enough.)

8 )  I agree I will not enter my “Lose It!” information while driving.  Or at least, I will look around to make sure no cops are looking while I input "tangerine - medium - 50 calories."  (I promise, I only do that at stop lights!)

9)  I agree I will stop telling my wife, “No, really – this thing is better than Star Trek!  Could Spock go jogging and then go online and see his exact route around the neighborhood with how fast he was going?  Could he?  Could Spock do that???”  (It's probably best I don't even go looking for that application or else I will do the same thing - excluding the Spock references as I am not a fan of Star Trek.  I can be, somewhat, enthusiastic about technology as Garbanzo is well aware.)

10)  I agree to stroke the thick, heavy, magic-seeming, temperature-cool glass surface of the touch screen with a sensuality I have never bestowed upon a human being.  (While I do enjoy the weight of the iPhone in my hand, I don't find myself stroking it...at least I don't think I do. I have witnessed a couple of coworkers who I wonder if their iPhones have replaced women given how carefully and lovingly they handle it.  It is a little un-nerving really.)