Frogs' Legs Aren't Funny

The download of my daily (almost) thoughts and ruminations.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Today's Temperature

You think I'm going to talk about the weather but that would only be what I do most of the time, not all of the time. I was sitting here thinking about my friend Penny, who was spending about an evening a week with me two years ago, watching a movie of my choice at her house with our little snacks of dried cranberries, grapes and fried pea pods. Penny was 84 and that seems to have been a turning point for her. She is now in a foster home and doesn't know my name when I'm announced. The good news is she still knows me when she sees me so I go to see her every few months.

Her husband died of Alzheimer's about 6 years ago and I'm not sure if that's what she has but her symptoms are similar. Her team of family and friends has always raised the most money in the Portland area for the Alzheimer's walk but she won't be walking anymore. Her daughter, Mary, has taken charge of planning for the annual event though and she is amazing.

Penny's situation makes me sad but her family continues do important work that will hopefully contribute toward the cure of this nastiness someday.

This is back to the gym week, or next week will be at the latest. Between the three birthdays we've celebrated over the last three weeks, and work of course, there has been no time for anything else.

I'm halfway through Harry Potter #4, that is my stress relief. A heated bean bag wrap for my neck and an hour pouring through that book make me perfectly sleepy and wipes all the worries and work stuff out of my head. It would be nice to be able to command that same blankness of mind throughout the day when things get crazy, unfortunately I need the 20 pound book to do it. I just can't feature that each of the next three books are even bigger and heavier. I'm going to have to have thumb surgery just to be able to finish reading these confounded books!

Nighty night!

Saturday, September 29, 2007

What Do I Know?

What does it say about me that the only "news" I know is what I learn from Bill Maher and John Stewart, when I get the chance to see them. I think it says that the daily news is shit and life is hard enough without listening to that. However, periodically I miss something as a result. Like I didn't know the President of Iran was coming to the U.S. As to that, I thought we had immigration officers at our borders, I thought we had lists of our enemies to deny them entry to the U.S., I thought we had metal detectors, so what in the hell was he doing here? Have we gone so far with our "freedom" that we welcome our sworn enemies with open arms while we are simultaneously wire tapping citizens who have lived here their entire lives?

I think it's a good thing our country no longer has any pride because everytime this president gets in front of the press or any other group of unfortunates, his poor grammar and simply stupid sounding speech blacks our eye yet again. It's kind of like having permanent eye shadow.

I read an article this morning about an amoeba that has been entering the noses of young boys who are swimming in warmish waters and killing them. The most recent one was in Arizona, where he had been swimming in Lake Havasu the week before. How scary is this, these organisms grow in warm water and apparently only enter the body through the nose where they attach themselves to the olfactory nerve when the swimmer does somersaults, or stands on their head or any other underwater activity after which they slowly eat their way into the brain. They keep destroying it until they kill the person. They mentioned they even grow in swimming pools if they aren't kept clean (in algae) for anyone who is thinking about jumping into a scummy pool. That creeped me out. Worse yet, no cure.

See, this is what happens when I read the paper! I'm going back to Harry Potter, at least the evil in that isn't real.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Ugh!

From horrendous migraine to asthma, this is a hell of a start to my week.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Weekends

You know, I'm getting so I equate weekends to recess during grade school. The part of the week you look forward to simply because it isn't work (or school as the case may be). Even if you have to do work, the fact that the daily demands of people in your office, phones, e-mail aren't there make it okay.

When you think of weekend, what words come to mind;
  • visiting with kids
  • having or going to parties,
  • shopping,
  • eating things you wouldn't necessarily eat during the week,
  • leisurely breakfasts, heck leisurely any meal,
  • watching tv
  • watching movies
  • practising piano longer than during the week
  • reading Harry Potter (or whatever) for longer chunks of time
  • working in the yard
  • watching kids play sports (when I'm lucky)
  • seeing other relatives
  • miscellaneous projects
  • catching up on online stuff
  • canceling catalogs
  • 2 weekends a year, trading out summer clothes for winter clothes
  • oh, and of course work tends to creep in there somewhere.
No wonder I'm so tired every Monday morning!

The leaves are turning, the squirrels are digging up all my plants to bury nuts for the winter, the leaves are falling, the evenings and mornings are much cooler, the leaves are clogging up the fountain, the flowers are losing their color, can you tell leaves are everywhere and will be for the next month at least?


Next Wednesday, baby boy turns one year old. He has become so much a part of our lives, I'm looking forward to every stage he will go through as he grows and develops. It will be interesting to see if he will even eat any of the cake at his party next week. He's about as excited about food as his mom was when she was little.


So, it's time for me to attach myself to the shopping bullet and go do it. Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Crying Babies

I know, you look at this face and you say this face doesn't ever cry but he sure did tonight. I felt so bad for mom and dad, nothing was helping and he has another fever so they missed dinner and the party.

I'm hoping he gets over the fever, starts eating better and gets reacclimated very soon so everyone can catch up on their sleep and get some energy back.

Oh, and so he can actually enjoy his first birthday. Why does being a baby have to be so hard?

Monday, September 17, 2007

Volcanoes and Such

We are so lucky. When Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980, granted there were casualties of people who were in the direct vicinity but for the most part, it merely created a hassle factor for the rest of us.

On August 26-27, 1883, an island in Indonesia housing a large volcanic mountain called Krakatoa experienced extensive eruptions for those two full days. The cataclysmic explosion was the loudest in recorded history. It was heard almost 2,000 miles away in Perth, Australia and on the island of Rodrigues, near Mauritius, almost 3,000 miles away. Every second of the explosions a million yards of ash, lava and pumice came crashing down the mountain where the massive avalanche pummeled the sea (the equivalent of 200 megatons of tnt).

This in turn caused a number of phenomenal tsunamis, more than two times higher than the devastating tsunami that hit Thailand in 2004.

165 villages and towns were destroyed and another 132 seriously damaged. At least, 36,417 were killed and many thousands injured. The explosion destroyed two thirds of the island.

The dramatic skyline in Edward Munch's painting "The Scream" was thought to be based on the global optical effects caused by the eruption and seen over Oslofjord, Norway.

Considering the devastation this event caused, it's amazing how little I knew about it. Perhaps everyone else knows more than I do. Regardless, there is no more powerful force to be reckoned with than Mother Nature.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

One Day of Freedom Left

Sunday at 12:10 PM and I haven't done a single thing (hardly anyway) I should have done by now, those come next. It's nice to have this bit of fun to do before I get to the grind.

I watched a number of WWII veterans this morning who had been flown from all over the country to see the somewhat newly erected WWII memorial in D.C. Funds have been raised all over the country to get these retired folks there to observe the demonstration of this country's gratitude to them.


They most certainly were fighting clear and present danger and true evil on two fronts and I've heard time and again how the monstrosities they witnessed and experienced themselves were so horrible they couldn't and didn't talk about their time in the war for decades. It was a very moving segment of Sunday Morning. What really got me was the fact that 1,200-1,500 of these vets are dying per day.

You know, if it had been mainly women representing the country in the war instead of men, my guess is that this memorial would have been constructed long ago simply based on the fact that we would have talked about it. The "it" can range from an experience of certain magnitude like a stint in the armed services or living through a natural disaster to finding yourself wearing the same outfit as someone you dislike (who is thinner and younger than you) at a special event. I know very few women who would keep either of those experiences or anything in-between to themselves. That is, of course, why we live longer.

Speaking of living longer, my parents have been married 57 years today. I'd love to say they are still affectionate and hold hands when they go places together (I've heard this does happen) but to be honest I don't remember them ever doing that. In fact, I used to think they were going to get a divorce even when I was little they fought so much. Nowadays, it's more about the daily battle they go through just dealing with the fact that my dad can't hear and my mom is quite naggy (is that a word?) and short-tempered when it comes to dealing with him. I think they can chalk up their marriage longevity to stubborness and habit more than anything else. There is undoubtedly some love there somewhere, it's just buried pretty deep. However, either of them would most certainly miss the other if they were gone.

Today is one of those overcast days, when the endorphins are trapped under the surface and you just can't get your engines going. So, I guess I'd better have one more cup of tea to jumpstart my engine and practice on my superb piano. Then I tackle the briefcase. Hasta la vista.

Friday, September 14, 2007

T.G.I.F.

It's Friday night and it has been a hell of a week. Parents and grandparents of, and baby boy all get home in a few hours. That's been the best part of the week, knowing their arrival was waiting at the end. Lots more work to do over the weekend but hopefully I'll be able to accomplish it from home. Fall is definitely in the air, in the sky, in the temperature and in the leaves falling everywhere. I'm actually wearing a sweatshirt today for the first time in a long time. It feels nice and cozy. I'm actually kind of ready for it at this point.

I'm still at loggerheads with the individual at work I mentioned earlier this week. The bigger guns will have to step in next week to try to prevent so much of our work grinding to a halt because the trees are completely blocking the forest for this person. I officially announce myself as a failure in getting through to her.

I took a health risk assessment today that asked if I felt I could manage the stress in my life. I guess the answer to that would be, "yes, when I'm not at work". This is becoming a common theme with folks these days. It makes you wonder how long our society can continue to demand more than is humanly possible out of people. I can't remember what a real weekend is like where you not only don't do any work but you don't think or worry about work either. I suppose this is why my friends who are already retired are so relaxed and have smiles on their faces all the time. Well you never know, I could find a million dollar lottery ticket abandoned on the sidewalk any day now.

Oh, oh, the pigs are flying outside my window, I need to go.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Where Did the Summer Go?

I'm sitting here looking at a pamphlet called Summer Guide 2007. It contains information like Backyard Smarts: Make a Play Date with Safety, Float Your Boat: Wise Water Safety Tips and You're Going Alone? Safe Solo Travel. And I think, "When did all this happen, where was I?" If this is what our summers are going to be like from now on, I want a refund. If the weather stays like this meaning more gray than blue, I wonder if certain correlated things will happen, you know unintended consequences. Some of the things that come to mind are; more rampant depression, significantly reduced bathing suit sales, fewer outdoor concerts, more mosquitoes, dirtier houses (all those endorphins trapped in our bodies), sidewalks lasting many more years because fewer people are walking on them (in the bad weather), lower outdoor furniture and barbecue sales, fewer steaks sold, fewer cattle sold, fewer cattle grown, fewer cattle bought...I think I just put the ranchers out of business.



You know how farms have become more and more scarce over the years as they have been replaced by business parks, light industry, strip malls and numerous housing developments? Maybe that means that at some point all of our fruit and vegetables will be grown hydroponically (I love that word), it is such a cool system. It feels very 2001; A Space Odyssey.


It's amazing to me that it's 2007 and people still buy the Farmers' Almanac. I wonder if that will go out of business in a few more generations when no one can remember anyone ever relying on it for anything? I wonder what else might be gone in a few generations? Maybe encyclopedias, dictionaries, music purchased anywhere but online, board games, gasoline-powered automobiles (I hope), the radical right wing (oops, how did that slip in there?), nuclear weapons (because they will either have destroyed us all by then or everyone gets smart and decommissions them), the 8:00 - 5:00 workday sitting in an office, traffic lights that turn red for no one (inefficient use of energy), beets (because everyone will have come to their senses and realized they're gross), bad movies (I don't understand how they even get made now) and last but not least Rush Limbaugh and Lars Larson because they need to just go away and stop poisoning the minds of the elderly.

I guess that does it for my political and other sundry commentary this evening. I'm off to finish off a few more pages of Harry Potter #3.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Friendships at Work

I'm beginning to think it's generally not a good idea to make friends at work. The fix I seem to have gotten myself into now is that one of my "friends" is driving everyone crazy and tomorrow I have to find a way to get through to her so she can understand the adverse impact she is having on everyone. She is so volatile, this will probably trigger the end of the friendship, just a hunch. She is so much fun when we're out "with the girls" it's very frustrating. Well, we'll see how it goes.

"The girls" were all supposed to go to the mountain cabin of one of the girls for the weekend but it appears this gal has flaked out. That's especially frustrating since it has been on the calendar for two months. Why are people like that, where they make obvious choices to be with other friends over you. Why commit in the first place if you don't want to go? Too much drama for me. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to hang around my grandson instead since he'll finally be home from Italy. Two more days, I can't wait.

I heard Barak Obama the other night on The Daily Show, he is such an impressive speaker. He has Kennedy-like charisma and just makes sense. But let's be honest, does he have a snowball's chance in hell of winning? Of course that's only if there's any snow left once this administration gets finished with us. Granted they haven't actually melted the arctic tundra but what have they done to address it? I can't remember them talking about anything but Iraq for the last 7 years (yes, I'm counting).

Actually, both parties appear to be so fractured, maybe it'll be a draw and the two parties will have to assume joint custody. One year on, one year off kind of like firefighters. The one thing Barak said he felt he was doing was encouraging the young vote to come out. That would be a good thing, try to balance out the old vote. You'll need alot of youngs to cancel out all those olds. I think Hillary can kiss it goodbye before she even starts, she has pissed way too many people off, that's what happens when you try to be the alpha male.

I heard someone say today that the three biggest threats to the U.S. are:
- weapons of mass destruction,
- nuclear explosives placed in small boats, and,
- Barbie heads from China
And I'm sure they're right.

Gas prices are going up again. Who would have ever thought I would be watching the gas pump register $20 for just 7 gallons of gas. Maybe it's actually molten gold and they just haven't let on to us. It sort of feels that way instead of just combustible, stinky, polluting gasoline. The way things are going, I'm going to be a scooter-riding grandma once I've retired because that's all I'll be able to afford. That means it will take me about half a day to get to my folks house considering how far away they live (probably 20 miles as the crow flies). I can just see my mom sitting on the back as we tool over to Ross. Hm, somehow this isn't working for me.

I'm off to do work work, it never ends.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Modern Times

No matter how many years I fly to and fro, many times for business purposes, I'll never get past my amazement at how we can be in entirely different states, entirely different business environments, entirely different cultures, all in the same day. After getting up at 4:00 this morning, I flew to Seattle, drove to Tacoma to visit a prospective client, back to Seattle to participate in a managers' meeting then back to the airport (driving a pseudo-PT Cruiser wierd sort of rental). Now I'm sitting in front of my computer at home, updating my beloved blog before I get to the real work I need to get done tonight.

Not only that, I'm now istening to the third CD in the Now, Discover Your Strengths audio book series while typing. I figure about every 10th or 15th line actually sinks in this way but I can honestly say I got through the whole thing when I return it to its owner tomorrow. That will leave me with only minimal guilt, I suppose that's a good thing.

I plummet into a guilt mode way too easily. I can feel guilty on a particular day just because I didn't finish everything on my "to do" list. Yikes! That's pitiful and I'm not going down that path today. I believe that my mom and dad did a great job of teaching me to take responsibility, the part of that they neglected to point out was that there are boundaries you need to set to ensure you are even remotely successful in meeting expectations. Instead, I never say no and consequently never finish on time, I never am as prepared as I should have been, rarely plan ahead (scrambling at the last minute). I do agree with what I just heard him say, I obsess on my weaknesses rather than focus on my strengths. I think this gets back to me never feeling like I'm good enough.

Of course the next question is, what are my strengths? I think I need the opinions of many here, not just mine. It's very difficult for me to be honest about what I think I'm good at. I can generally find fault in anything (another weakness).
  • I could say my passion around supporting particular nonprofit organizations is a strength but I could also share some downsides of this .
  • I could say that I am pretty good at relationship building but I could also say there are some people I just can't get through to or figure out.
  • I could say I'm a good mom and grammy although my kids might have something to say about that.
So, I guess I need to work the next few weeks to fill in the blanks and ask the people around me what they think my strengths are. It will be interesting to see if any of them agree with each other. Kara, you start.

Time to practice before I come back down here to work.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Home Alone

First, why Google images? Consider it an education, just think of all the finds I've made on that site, images you have never seen before in your life and that I certainly don't have in my back pocket. I mean, the Banana Man alone was worth a mint. So enough about that.

I'm going out to water muchas plantas. Then I'll be back.

The "Bridges of Madison County" is on; there is something intriguing about having a secret life my kids know nothing about and don't find out until after I've left for far off places. Otherwise, there's no secret sauce to be reckoned with. 1965 or 2007, the year doesn't really make any difference, things still happen that are way behind the scenes. Not to worry, I don't have any sauce cooking at the moment. My biggest problem in this area is that I've got a driving need to tell everything I know, which can get in the way of the secret side of the sauce. For instance, they already know all my old secrets.

The other thing that's interesting about this movie is that it emphasizes the fact that being alone is most certainly a freeing feeling. It reminds you those are the brief times during which there is nothing controlling your life but you. In her case, she sat in a dark kitchen, drinking a glass of wine (I think it's a milk glass) and listening to opera on the radio (she was Italian).

Not only that, they just talked about Bari and Brindisi in Italy, which is the area where my daughter and her family are as we speak. Life is truly full of crazy coincidences, I don't remember hearing that part of the script ever before.

In my case, while I love quiet time (and I'm dying to finish Harry Potter #3), I am most energized and content when I'm with people so I'm spending the majority of the weekend with various family members.

So, tonight is the only time I have to blog up a storm. There doesn't seem to be as much time for this lately. but I miss it because it's an outlet for tension that tends to build up during the day. Plus the fact that goofy is good, you don't have to make sense in your blog because it's yours. It's just good therapy.

I wonder if these stars who promote hair and skin products, perfume and clothing lines and various foods or personal hygiene items, really need the money. Like William Shatner, does he really need more money so he can just keep eating and putting the weight on? Maybe if he stayed off tv he'd lose a little, and his face is going to implode in a Michael Jacksonish way if he doesn't stop with the cosmetic surgeries. He creeps me out just to look at.


The one I'm really okay with is Dennis Hopper, probably because he is the only one who is actually appealing to me and what I want...Retirement, Dreams, Travel to amazing places, etc. He's never been my favorite actor but I'm ready to go visit with Ameriprise Financial, that's for sure. I decided not to include pics of him because one gross looking guy is enough in this segment. Actually though, he has aged much better than he deserved to considering his out-of-control youth.

Well, somehow the clock on the wall is telling me its late, how it got to be 9:00 I'll never know. I'm off to practice.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Multi-tasking

As I sit here on the precipice of another creation worthy of a Pulitzer, I am listening to both Boccherini (classical symphonic - now it's Mozart) very quietly strictly as background, louder in the background is Marcus Buckingham's "Now, Discover Your Strengths". I agree, if only the book sounded like he looks I wouldn't be losing track of what is being said.

(I'd much rather look at him than at Mozart.)

I am what is known as a Sr. HR Business Partner for some of our senior executives. One of them is a true afficianado of self-improvement literature, this being just one of may such tomes he has read and recommended. In fact, this is his CD that I have been sitting here staring at for the last 2-3 months. Hence, I've now officially taken it out of the box and am slowly wading through truly boring stuff. All I've learned so far is that your brain is basically formed within your first year and you don't add much after that, in fact, throughout your childhood you waste much of it away because it isn't being developed sufficiently. I'm sure there has been more meat than that in this presentation but that's what has stuck with me so far.

So tomorrow is Labor Day. When you hear the term Labor Day, what comes to your mind, poor laboring workers being trod upon by management, the true epitome of evil?




Or this, the family crammed into their car along with every recreational item they own and
maybe some additional stuff from the Dollar Store grabbed on the way out of town? Actually, now that I look at it more closely, this cartoon is probably something more patriotic in nature so you have to use your imagination on this one.



There are also the infamous State Fairs that occur over this weekend with Labor Day generally acting as the grand finale. The "grandaddy" of them all is the Iowa State Fair, upon which the famous "State Fair" musical was based for all of you Pat Boone lovers.

Then of course there is the eternal shopping activity that consumes most of us regardless of the weekend, although holiday weekends tend to offer amazing savings you can't seem to live without

So, however you plan to spend your weekend, enjoy it, I am.