It's official. I have been living out east for two years (Easter sets 2-year mark). Sometimes it seems like much longer seeing that during these past two years I have moved to yet another city and job, gained a nephew, been through several relationships (short-lived obviously), seen my father's condition worsen quite considerably, and basically solidified my future plans. Even though it has only been two, it has felt like five. I'm a bit worried because five is the magic number; that is, if Plan B doesn't have to come into action (Plan B: my father condition gets close to endpoint I head back to MN ASAP). Plan A involves me considering my next move on my five year anniversary. Yes, I'm a planner. How could you tell?
As I am becoming more aquainted with Philadelphia I have found to have a love-hate relationship with it. Some days I find myself loathing it but then I think of moving and well, I freak out and and I grasp onto it like a frightened little child. Perhaps I just know I cannot handle the stress of moving again at this moment. Perhaps it's some of the people that I have latched onto and the fact that my best friends in DC are still just a hop, skip and a jump away from me. Or maybe it's because I love my job too much and don't want to lose the awesome challenges/opportunities that it has given me. I love the thrill of not knowing a place or its people. I love the challenge of being the 'newbie' in groups. It gives me that 'different' vibe and people get to know me by me only. The only association they can give me is the fact that I'm originally from MN or I was raised a farm kid.....which I'm darn proud of both.
The great thing about my two year mark was that my parents were here [in PHL] to help me celebrate. I hosted Easter for them....yes, I PLANNED and MADE an Easter dinner. We had fresh cut veggies, dinner rolls, CK special salad, marmalade glazed ham, baked mashed potatoes and a layered lemon pound cake topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit. The only thing I didn't make from scratch was the dinner rolls. I was pretty darn proud of myself and my mother and I both took pics of the food. Sad, but very true. At one point during our meal my mother looked over to my father and said, "All of those years of trying to domesticate her and it paid off!" My fathers' response, "Finally." (And all of those years I'd get mad at them for saying that they needed to domesticate me.....and I end up loving Martha Stewart...go figure).
Even though my father has become quite lethargic and needed to sleep a good portion of his visit I am still happy that he came. It will more than likely be the only time he comes out east to see me and I'm coming to realize that's okay. I just hope he knows that I love him just as much now as I did years ago when he was the father I will remember not the man who has taken my father on....leaving him a completely different man. Damn you MS. But thank you God for letting me have my father as long as I have and for a bit longer.
3.26.2008
3.17.2008
It's the Little Things
That warm my cold heart. Happy to see Grandpa made it to Iraq too!
And finding my lost phone.
Or the gossip that has engulfed a certain club about me, the newbie.
Along with perhaps that I have spent many hours of my work time deciphering government documents about product standards and regulations in China. Yeah, the irony.
A weekend well spent by ALL!
And finding my lost phone.
Or the gossip that has engulfed a certain club about me, the newbie.
Along with perhaps that I have spent many hours of my work time deciphering government documents about product standards and regulations in China. Yeah, the irony.
A weekend well spent by ALL!
3.13.2008
What's a Heat Wave to You?
8:45 a.m. EST listening to Philly's 104.5.....weather announcement....."Brrr! It's cold this morning! Right now it's a freezin' 32 degrees!"
9:05 a.m. EST listening to 89.3 The Current (Minneapolis) from my desk.....weather announcement......"It's a beautiful sunny/warm day out with a temp of 33 degrees. Enjoy folks!"
I'm guessing it's all a matter of persepective. The kicker is that my mama'mobile (an older Volvo) is what I like to call a bit 'prissy.' Back a few months ago when it started to get chilly in Philly I noticed a bright orange light turn on when I would start my car. Now, I was still a bit new to all of the functions of my car so I got a bit worried (I hadn't noticed that this light was located by the thermometer). I look up the function and found out that this little light is just to let you know when the temp has dipped below 40 degrees F.
Now, I know I brag about liking the cold. Albeit, I'm not sure why I do, but I do. Anyhow, I am curious as to what engineer at Volvo HQ was sitting there and thinking, "People are too dumb to figure out the temperature via feeling and/or reading the thermometer, let's help them out by having a light come on when it dips below 40 degrees!!" I can only assume he brings this to the board of engineers and they applaud his great idea, pay him $1,000,000 and then require it to be installed in all of their models and jack up the price of the car by another $5,000.
So this morning (after a number of warmer mornings) I was SO happy that I had this light tell me that it was 'chilly' out. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't have known to put my heater on for a bit or to wear the coat that I was already wearing. Thank you Volvo.
**I do love my Volvo - I just find this one piece of 'extra' a bit unnecessary**
p.s. I'm sincerly lazy.
Point: Last night I was in a wickedly horrible light sleep and woke up instantly when my fan quit. I laid there and listened to the would be normal sounds, but there was nothing. Dead silent. It was as if the entire neighborhood hushed for a moment. I got out of bed and fumbled my way to the light switch. Nothing. I went downstairs and heard some roucus outside; my neighbors were chatting and having a smoke (the norm). I go back upstairs and decide it's just a minor power outtage.
But wait? I didn't look to see if anyone elses power was out. Gah! After a few minutes of deliberating I get up again, blindly find some pants and throw on a sweater. I head down to our freaky dungeon of a basement and grab the flashlight and then go back upstairs to put contacts in (I'm blind as a bat, let me tell you.). I'm cursing the entire time thinking that our house is scary in the dark and the shadows created by the flashlight does not help. I managed to walk outside and see the neighboring blocks and rec center all lit up. "The transformer blew-up." I jump, my older neighbor lady was barely hanging out the door and I hadn't noticed her. There was a lot of commotion and flashing lights everywhere down the street. We make some minor small talk and bid each other a good night.
I managed to get back into bed but of course laid there completely awake and kept thinking, "They better fix that soon or else I'm sending a bill for all of the fresh fish I bought tonight at the market." Even I amaze myself sometimes....the power is out and all I think of was my fish.
9:05 a.m. EST listening to 89.3 The Current (Minneapolis) from my desk.....weather announcement......"It's a beautiful sunny/warm day out with a temp of 33 degrees. Enjoy folks!"
I'm guessing it's all a matter of persepective. The kicker is that my mama'mobile (an older Volvo) is what I like to call a bit 'prissy.' Back a few months ago when it started to get chilly in Philly I noticed a bright orange light turn on when I would start my car. Now, I was still a bit new to all of the functions of my car so I got a bit worried (I hadn't noticed that this light was located by the thermometer). I look up the function and found out that this little light is just to let you know when the temp has dipped below 40 degrees F.
Now, I know I brag about liking the cold. Albeit, I'm not sure why I do, but I do. Anyhow, I am curious as to what engineer at Volvo HQ was sitting there and thinking, "People are too dumb to figure out the temperature via feeling and/or reading the thermometer, let's help them out by having a light come on when it dips below 40 degrees!!" I can only assume he brings this to the board of engineers and they applaud his great idea, pay him $1,000,000 and then require it to be installed in all of their models and jack up the price of the car by another $5,000.
So this morning (after a number of warmer mornings) I was SO happy that I had this light tell me that it was 'chilly' out. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't have known to put my heater on for a bit or to wear the coat that I was already wearing. Thank you Volvo.
**I do love my Volvo - I just find this one piece of 'extra' a bit unnecessary**
p.s. I'm sincerly lazy.
Point: Last night I was in a wickedly horrible light sleep and woke up instantly when my fan quit. I laid there and listened to the would be normal sounds, but there was nothing. Dead silent. It was as if the entire neighborhood hushed for a moment. I got out of bed and fumbled my way to the light switch. Nothing. I went downstairs and heard some roucus outside; my neighbors were chatting and having a smoke (the norm). I go back upstairs and decide it's just a minor power outtage.
But wait? I didn't look to see if anyone elses power was out. Gah! After a few minutes of deliberating I get up again, blindly find some pants and throw on a sweater. I head down to our freaky dungeon of a basement and grab the flashlight and then go back upstairs to put contacts in (I'm blind as a bat, let me tell you.). I'm cursing the entire time thinking that our house is scary in the dark and the shadows created by the flashlight does not help. I managed to walk outside and see the neighboring blocks and rec center all lit up. "The transformer blew-up." I jump, my older neighbor lady was barely hanging out the door and I hadn't noticed her. There was a lot of commotion and flashing lights everywhere down the street. We make some minor small talk and bid each other a good night.
I managed to get back into bed but of course laid there completely awake and kept thinking, "They better fix that soon or else I'm sending a bill for all of the fresh fish I bought tonight at the market." Even I amaze myself sometimes....the power is out and all I think of was my fish.
3.12.2008
"OW! My thong!"
I'm not a great curler, but enjoy the challenge and being on ice (since there's never ice here in the winter). Slowly PCC has become my home and I have grown to a great comfort level. That level has led to some amazing conversations. And when I mean by amazing, I mean pathetically ridiculous.
A few weeks back a conversation on the ice came to the topic of thong underwear. I and a fellow female curler were speaking of how one needs to remember to pack regular briefs for when working out or doing any other form of sporting activity for maximum comfort. This conversation continued on after the game and, of course, the men were thoroughly disappointed that we did not use that as a tactic to win the game (really...how low would that be?). As fun as it was to see the one single guy in the group get all flustered the best part was when a girl stated that she could not endure wearing one while working out and enhanced it with a, "Ow, my thong!" That, of course, became the new saying for Mixed night (**yes, rolling eyes**)
Of course, the conversation came up again a week later during the Belle's League. Many of the woman agreed that it's a must to change. This topic is not dying, obviously.
Well it had been another week and I'm back on the ice for the first time in a week. I'm moving around 'swiftly' and knew that a certain someone was watching our game from the warm room. As I moved in to push one of the stones with my foot after the score call on the 2nd end I slipped and fell. Now remember....a guy was watching and there were over 15 woman there who saw - I was a spectical. What would you assume would first come to my mind? Pherhaps a, "Oh crap, this is embarrassing." or "Ow and $*@%!"
Nope. Instead my first thought was....
"Glad I didn't wear a thong!"
It's obviously not going to die off quite yet.
A few weeks back a conversation on the ice came to the topic of thong underwear. I and a fellow female curler were speaking of how one needs to remember to pack regular briefs for when working out or doing any other form of sporting activity for maximum comfort. This conversation continued on after the game and, of course, the men were thoroughly disappointed that we did not use that as a tactic to win the game (really...how low would that be?). As fun as it was to see the one single guy in the group get all flustered the best part was when a girl stated that she could not endure wearing one while working out and enhanced it with a, "Ow, my thong!" That, of course, became the new saying for Mixed night (**yes, rolling eyes**)
Of course, the conversation came up again a week later during the Belle's League. Many of the woman agreed that it's a must to change. This topic is not dying, obviously.
Well it had been another week and I'm back on the ice for the first time in a week. I'm moving around 'swiftly' and knew that a certain someone was watching our game from the warm room. As I moved in to push one of the stones with my foot after the score call on the 2nd end I slipped and fell. Now remember....a guy was watching and there were over 15 woman there who saw - I was a spectical. What would you assume would first come to my mind? Pherhaps a, "Oh crap, this is embarrassing." or "Ow and $*@%!"
Nope. Instead my first thought was....
"Glad I didn't wear a thong!"
It's obviously not going to die off quite yet.
3.11.2008
The Days End
I'm in a crunch but yet need to find some quiet time (i.e. get away from the ringing phone and ignore the emails beeping at me).....so I ate my lunch with my headphones (at my desk) and read the daily food industry breifing. Sad life. I know. But here's some interesting finds...
I was interested to find that there is a bit of movement for a grocers union in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area passed a heft contract that would increase wages, health care, etc.
The USDA is still getting a spanking on not covering (err...busting) the Hallmark/Westland slaughterhouse that founded for its animal cruelty acts. People....if you are not familiar with slaughterhouses....trust me...this is one of those 'bad egg' types. I can't tell you how many of these places I have been to and this does not happen. But I also want to point out that some of the footage may have been taken out of context. People who have not had to work with moving a downer cow doesn't understand that difficultly in moving it. If you want more on my opinion on that, inquire within. Though, I leave this as no excuse for cruelty to be performed on animals. There's just a great line of understanding that most don't know when you get biased footage.
I am amazed to this day that people even decided to grow anything in the Central Valley (Fresno, CA area) seeing that it is literally this vast, flat land with zero of a watertable (they channel a good portion of their water in from the mountains). So this just proves as to my confusion of "Why did you even do this.....aside from great climate....seeing you knew you would be facing water issues?!"
And I am proud that America is attemtping to give Canada a run for their money in the honey world.... TAKE THAT CANADA!! ha.
Sorry if I bored you. I guess you can now turn around and go and gossip about Spitzer and his little frolics and how you didn't even know who he was until yesterday.
I was interested to find that there is a bit of movement for a grocers union in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area passed a heft contract that would increase wages, health care, etc.
The USDA is still getting a spanking on not covering (err...busting) the Hallmark/Westland slaughterhouse that founded for its animal cruelty acts. People....if you are not familiar with slaughterhouses....trust me...this is one of those 'bad egg' types. I can't tell you how many of these places I have been to and this does not happen. But I also want to point out that some of the footage may have been taken out of context. People who have not had to work with moving a downer cow doesn't understand that difficultly in moving it. If you want more on my opinion on that, inquire within. Though, I leave this as no excuse for cruelty to be performed on animals. There's just a great line of understanding that most don't know when you get biased footage.
I am amazed to this day that people even decided to grow anything in the Central Valley (Fresno, CA area) seeing that it is literally this vast, flat land with zero of a watertable (they channel a good portion of their water in from the mountains). So this just proves as to my confusion of "Why did you even do this.....aside from great climate....seeing you knew you would be facing water issues?!"
And I am proud that America is attemtping to give Canada a run for their money in the honey world.... TAKE THAT CANADA!! ha.
Sorry if I bored you. I guess you can now turn around and go and gossip about Spitzer and his little frolics and how you didn't even know who he was until yesterday.
3.03.2008
All Male Dance Squad
A friend of mine just sent this to me....her God-sister is the coach.
My life will never be the same again.
My life will never be the same again.
FDA is Bad...No USDA....No FDA.....No USDA
Clearly we have some flip-flopping going on when it comes to the Dems and their statements on the USDA and FDA (Re: Feb 29, 2008 post)
Oh and remember when it was the 2007 Farm Bill? Yeah....I'm pretty sure it'll end-up being the 2009 Farm Bill. And to think that I considered working on it. Glad that there is always people needing milk around the world.
Oh and remember when it was the 2007 Farm Bill? Yeah....I'm pretty sure it'll end-up being the 2009 Farm Bill. And to think that I considered working on it. Glad that there is always people needing milk around the world.
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