The types of things I’m dealing with

Are you Debra [my last name]?

Yes, I am.

Really?! Are you McKenna’s mom? McKenna is in the same class as my son.

Um, no. Are you sure McKenna’s last name is [my last name]?

Yes, McKenna [one letter different than my last name].

Well, there you go. My name is [this], McKenna’s name is [that].

Are you sure you’re not McKenna’s mom?

Yeah…I think I would remember something like that.
___________________________________________________

This afternoon, I had a VERY lengthy conversation with one of our suppliers, which at one point required me to give him my first and last names (I normally stick to just Debra on these types of calls. Like Cher. Or Brangelina.) and company email address so he could forward an email to me that he received from someone else at the company.

To me, the call was frustrating and tiring. But, being the good corporate soldier that I am, I kept my cool and treated the guy with a perfect combination of professionalism and friendliness. Two hours after hanging up, the guy found me on IM and asked for my phone number. I gave him our Help Desk number because duh, if you need help that’s what you call. No, he wanted MY number.

I closed the window and blocked him from my IM. This soldier is now MIA. Damn my sexy phone voice.
___________________________________________________

I’ve been doing the 30 Day Shred workouts for a little over a week now. If you’re on the blogosphere, you probably have read other people’s accounts of this as well. It is B-R-U-T-A-L. And, I am convinced that Jillian is evil. Anyone who says things like, “I want you to be gargling your heart by the time this is over.” is not a nice person. I’m just saying. I call this the Catholic Mass of workout videos. It is 20 minutes of up-down, stand-squat, hit the ground-get back up craziness.

And I’m kind of sick because I love it.
___________________________________________________

Every morning, while eating my breakfast, I logon to check my email, read blogs, and maybe send a tweet or two. This morning, my broadband was down. I don’t even want to admit to the level of panic that shot through me. To top it off, my cell phone, from which I normally tweet and check blogs during the day, wasn’t working either. I was thisclose to hyperventilating and ending up on the floor under my desk in a fetal position.

The amount of hysteria I felt welling up in me was incredibly disturbing. I felt completely and utterly cut off from everyone. All of a sudden, I had this overwhelming desire to talk to each and every one of you. I HAD to talk to you because how could I get through the day without knowing how you were? God forbid something big happen in your life TODAY and I wouldn’t hear about it until TOMORROW. The horror!

So I’m making the offer — if anyone wants to exchange phone numbers and actually have a phone conversation (that’s still a thing, right?), I would love it. Or, you know, we wouldn’t even have to talk other than emergencies but I could at least have someone to call to say, “Dude! My internet is down! Send valium and whatever you do, don’t do anything tweetable until it comes back up!”

How annoying/incredible is it that we can feel so connected to people we’ve never met? Or is that just incredibly annoying?
___________________________________________________

And, lastly, knowing what I know now…how am I ever going to be able to cross off #24 from my 100 Things list? I will have to be in a coma. Or alone with Vincent D’Onofrio. These are my only options.

Weekly wrap-up

I have only random snippets of topics today so bullets will have to do:

1. The “second me” is no longer.  I should have known better than to tempt blog fate like that. You know about blog fate, right? It is the phenomenon of mentioning something on your blog and then immediately seeing things reverse. Like when a new mother joyously exclaims on her blog, “The baby slept six hours straight, three nights in a row!” And then, her baby doesn’t sleep again until he reaches puberty. That, my friends, is blog fate.
2. The whole “second me” thing would have been great, especially the ability to take a vacation (and boy, I could use a vacation) but I understand why the decision was reversed. Times are tough, people. That’s all I’m going to say. (And those of you who know more, please respect the fact that I don’t want to talk about it here.)
3. I went to lunch on Friday with David and we started discussing all the random things that can contain animal products and you don’t even realize. Did you know that most multi-vitamins contain gelatin? I didn’t either! So now I’m looking online for a new source of vegan vitamins. I think I found something at the Vegan Store but just as a reminder to you other veg-heads out there…read the labels on everything!
4. I think my entire family is backing out of Christmas this year. My sister’s family refuses to travel here, my father has no time to travel there, my mother is ambivalent about all of it, and I have no time to travel anywhere. I think we’re going to mail each other our gifts, maybe make a phone call on the day, and call it good. I am all for that. Any day that I can sleep in and not worry about having to do anything or go anywhere is a great day.
5. Are you seeing a decline in the number of Christmas cards you’re receiving this year? I usually have dozens by now but I only have a handful. I think Christmas has taken people by surprise this year. I know it has me. I will probably send out a few cards to use up the ones I have bought in years past, but I am rethinking this tradition going forward. At the least, I will make sure my cards are made from recycled paper but ideally, I would like to find a more environmentally-friendly way to spread cheer. Any ideas out there?
6. As someone who doesn’t care much for the ‘family’ holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, I do love New Years. I am already thinking of what my focus will be for 2009 and will be working on my goals over the next few weeks. This is my favorite part of this time of year. Are you setting any goals in the new year? What would you like to focus on? Being ‘greener’? Traveling? Finding a new career? Investing more time in the things you love to do? What will your 2009 look like?

Who do we dress for?

In talking to someone about the previous post and asking their advice on what to bring on my Girls’ Weekend, it was pointed out to me that if this was a weekend with the guys, I would not be in this quandary. The reasoning was that as women we tend to put more thought and effort into our clothing, hair, and overall appearance when we’re going to be with our girlfriends than with our male friends or partners.

I had to think about this for a while because I wasn’t willing to admit that it could be true. Don’t I always try to look nice, regardless of the company I will be keeping? And am I not an emotional dresser? If made to wear something that I’m just not grooving on that day, I’m in a snit until I get to change. Most importantly, shouldn’t I be dressing to make myself happy and comfortable, not worrying about the other people in the room?

And then I thought about my own behavior and had to admit that, yes, I do notice what the other women in the room are wearing. I look at how they put an outfit together, what accessories they chose and what is on their feet. I’m not critiquing but just always looking for something new, something I may not have tried yet. Oh! That heel with that cut of skirt. Got it. Thank you.

Men, unless you’re naked, I am not going to notice what you’re wearing…or I guess, not wearing. I will notice your attitude and hygiene, so don’t be going all caveman on us, but could I pick your button-down out of a lineup? The odds aren’t good. I mean no disrespect or anything but your wardrobes are pretty…shall we say, basic? Unless you’re at a wedding or costume party, it’s pretty much been there-done that, wouldn’t you say? Which is why you probably don’t care what women are wearing either. Admit it, you don’t notice what we wear unless we specifically ask you to comment on it (excluding Hooters girls and the like of course).

So like it or not, my friend is probably right. Women dress more to impress, or at least keep up, with their female friends.

But how this helps me in my packing, I fail to see.

A little housekeeping

The woman who cuts my hair had her baby last week! Click here for photos. He is gorgeous, isn’t he? I can’t wait to meet him!

I still have no case for my iPod so I am trying to content myself with just looking at it and petting it occasionally. I haven’t dared to pick it up because I know how I am. Let’s just say, it is much safer just lying there until it gets properly encased. I did go out to the case manufacturer’s website this morning…and they are available now! So let’s hope I see one on my doorstep sometime in the next few days!

I went to the Pekin Farmer’s Market Thursday evening. Did you know that Pekin had a Farmer’s Market? Neither did I. It is on the street just beside the courthouse and was small but nice. The produce looked pretty good and the prices were comparable or better than the Saturday morning Riverfront Market in Peoria. (But Peoria’s market is the best around, in my opinion.) I went for one thing. ONE thing. I wanted more tomatoes. What did I come home with? Eggplant, green pepper, onions, and sweet potatoes. How could I have forgotten tomatoes?! And no, I didn’t make a list because I ONLY WANTED TOMATOES! (I am a complete dork.)

Sunday, I made a Farmer’s Market concoction and I need to write it down so I can remember it (see the tomato debacle above) and make it again. All I did was throw cubes of eggplant, sweet potato, carrot, celery, onion, and some diced garlic in a Dutch oven and cooked it all in a little oil until all the veggies were tender. I also sprinkled in some ground cinnamon and paprika and grated a little fresh nutmeg. So good! And it smelled yummy too. I served it over brown rice. I think that is my favorite kind of cooking…just pulling things out of the pantry and throwing them together and seeing what happens.

Today, I’m actually looking forward to going to work. I have only one meeting (and I’m not leading it so nothing to prepare) and I have a project that I started Friday to finish. I have a good feeling about this! I just may make it happen! Oh shoot…did I just jinx things? (See above: I am a complete dork.)

Let’s catch up

I have things to say and yet have nothing to say. Do you ever feel like that? I feel like we need to get caught up and yet absolutely nothing of any consequence has happened which justifies a blog post. So maybe if I clear my mind of all these inconsequential things, something bigger will come along. It’s worth a shot.

• I have been chipping away at The Grapes of Wrath all month. Let me tell you, if I had read this novel first, I would never have even opened Of Mice and Men or East of Eden (both crazy wonderful books in my opinion). As I’m reading, all these thoughts are going round in my head: “For crying out loud, who did the editing on this book? Was there any editing on this book? And what substance must be in one’s bloodstream to write an entire freaking chapter about a turtle crossing the road? (Chapter 3 – only two pages long but still. A turtle? Crossing the road? This warrants a chapter?!)”

  And yes, literary types, I understand the story being told around the story and how the environment and the economy and the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl Migration are all characters in this as well as the Joads…but good golly Molly, an entire chapter about a turtle? With dogged perseverance and let’s face it, flat out stubborness, I have made it through fourteen chapters. In Chapter 10, the truck was finally loaded with the last earthly possessions and the Joads finally began their trek to California, which I’m hoping livens things up a bit. (Except poor Grandpa, who died the first day out and didn’t even rate his own chapter. Stupid turtle.)

• Only two more nights on the back-breaker mattress, so that’s a good thing. I found my memory foam pillows last night so I’m ready to be lulled into the best night’s sleep ever on Thursday. Yes, the bed is coming on Wednesday but I’m going to the chiropractor on Thursday to put everything back in place so I’m expecting Thursday to be the best night’s sleep ever experienced. That’s the game plan anyway.
• I think I’m going to not jump on the iPhone bandwagon and just get a new Blackberry. Thoughts?
• This is my new favorite commercial. (I Tweeted this so if you follow me, you may have already seen this.) And to be honest, I don’t really love the commercial or JC Penney but I love the movie and the song and the memories it brings back…hence and therefore, it’s my favorite commercial. Unless of course, a commerical with Vincent D’Onofrio comes on. VD’O trumps the ’80s (and anything else) every day of the week.
• I am a little freaked out that at the end of the week it will be August. I don’t particularly love summer so they all seem to last f-o-r-e-v-e-r to me, but this one…it’s almost over and I don’t know where I’ve been. And there is some television show that they keep advertising that is going to air on Labor Day and to even be discussing events such as Labor Day when I don’t know where the summer has gone just frightens me a little.
• I found a writing contest I may enter! (See my 100 Things page – #57) It is an essay contest with a maximum 1500 word count. Anyone could do that, right? I have no dream of winning and yet I don’t think I would even want to. I just want to enter and try and start putting some action behind the Big Dream. The hardest part is the theme: The Most Important Day of My Life. I am at a loss. Have I even had a most important day? Unless…maybe…the most important day is the day I…? Ooh, ideas are flowing now.

  What has been the most important day in your life?