Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Quality Time with Dad

When I was a kid there were a couple of nights a month that my dad had to watch me. My mom would be babysitting for another family and my sister would also be out babysitting. So that left my father and me to spend quality time together.

My mom would usually prepare dinner for us. Occasionally though my dad would cook for both of us. The menu of the evening usually consisted of a choice of: Pasta and tomato sauce, a fried egg with tomato sauce, grilled mozzarella cheese sandwiches (which could have tomato sauce) or some roast beef in tomato sauce.

After dinner, it was usually time for a bath. Bath time with my dad was a bit different than with my mom. My dad didn’t believe in shampoo to clean my hair. He would take a bar of Ivory soap and rub it across the top of my head. He’d toss some water onto my head and lather it. There were probably four suds total with this method. He’d then take a cup and submerge it in water and throw it over my head. He would do this until the 4 suds would disappear. My mom’s method was to use Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo, which she’s lather on my head, and then she’d tilt me back so my head would go under the water. She’d move her hand around my submerged head to ensure the soap water cleared.

My dad also believed in letting me do most of the work. Where my mom would soap me up all over, my dad would hand me a washcloth, the aforementioned bar of Ivory soap and would tell me to rub the two together. He’d then tell me to rub the washcloth around and then I’d splash myself clean.

After my bath, it was time to get into my pjs and watch television. We’d often watch the Carol Burnett show together. This would usually make my dad laugh inordinately and I enjoyed the costumes and faces she would make. Other times, I’d tell my dad what I wanted to watch. On a couple of occasions though, I was subject to watch the Benny Hill show with my dad. I didn’t understand the show really but it sure made my dad laugh. Even if I didn’t understand it, it was a nice end to an evening with my dad.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

By Chance

Travelling is one of my passions. Seeing how other people live and what they do on a daily basis always makes me appreciate their culture so much. Of course partaking in their cuisine is always an eye opening experience.

I’ve returned often to Italy, where both my parents are from, and it’s given me an enormous appreciation for Italian culture in ways that I don’t believe I would have gotten from never visiting. I’ve seen a lot of the boot. The vast landscapes and differences in climates have helped me understand why certain areas are more advanced than others. The different dialects have explained what each region or people see as a priority. It’s truly a fascinating sociological and anthropological experiment and experience.

A few months ago the Mexican and I found ourselves in Perugia. A city I had wanted to visit for a long time based solely on wanting to visit the famed Perugina chocolate factory. (Yes, it’s a sad reason to visit a city but I’ve heard worse reasons!!)

We arrived in the early afternoon after missing lunch so I was famished. We had to wait a bit for the restaurants to open but we had a coffee and a panino to tie us over. I had read about a pizzeria in my guide book and decided that I wanted to go there.

A little later we walked over to the place and there was a line outside of the place full of English speaking people. I decided that I didn’t want to go there after all. I was looking for more of a local place where the Perugians themselves went. We decided to walk around a bit and see if we came across another restaurant.

We walked around the corner and discovered a wine bar and we decided to go in and have a glass of wine and ask the locals there if they had any recommendations. But I looked closer at the menu in the display case and it said that this restaurant served dinner as well. And it noted that the menu was whatever the chef wanted to make that day. This sounded just up my alley.

The enoteca was dark enough to create mystery and fragrant with the delicate perfume of grapes. And locals abounded! At the bar and at the tables! We took a seat and the server told us the specials. Specials all so scrumptious sounding that I had to ask her to repeat them so I could decide which ones I was interested in (also translating in between takes a bit of time too).

We decided on the soup and the Mexican got one of the pasta dishes while I got another. The soup made my insides warm and my stomach happy. Not to mention that we got some bread and mortadella to start and they were fantastic.

When my pasta arrived, it smelled glorious and I almost wanted to cry. The Mexican’s pasta looked just as delicious and smelled as tempting as mine did. It was one of the best meals I have ever had. As we walked back to our hotel, the contentment I felt was overwhelming and I slept like a baby that night.

It’s so nice to find a cute little spot and a wonderful meal by chance.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Running errands this past weekend was eye opening. The usual bustle and chaos in shops and on the streets was evident from the moment I walked out my door. The crowds were enormous and the lines were long. Nothing unusual for the holiday season really until I saw waves of red and white making their way around my neighborhood.

Hundreds of Santa Clauses were out and about this past Saturday. They were joined by a couple of elves and some reindeer and one big pink bunny rabbit. But what did this all mean?

As hordes of Santa’s convened on a nearby street corner, I realized - it was SantaCon! I don’t think there is an actual reason why the Santa Convention (SantaCon for short) happens except to just bring good cheer and holiday pleasantness around. I certainly got a laugh out of the big pink bunny rabbit. I enjoyed hearing a couple of groups sing Christmas Carols out of tune. Made me appreciate my ipod so much. I did think it was fun and jolly.

I can not say the same for a little boy who saw a bunch of Santas approach him. They stopped in front of him and said ‘Merry Christmas’ in unison with much cheer in their voices. All he could do was being to scream, then cry and wail. I guess he must be on the naughty list this year? I don’t know what could have prompted such an unjoyous reaction!

Mistaken Identity

Walking around my neighborhood is always pleasant. It’s a residential neighborhood with lots of little parks and cute shops. Taking a stroll is also fun because there are a number of dog owners. Lots of neighborhood dogs are markers in my daily routine.

There are a few I see every morning on my way to the subway. They give me paw or let me pet them. A couple of others greet me on the way home. It’s such a nice part of my day and often makes my day.

On one particular occasion, I was running an errand and I saw a fluffy, medium-sized dog turning the corner that I was approaching. It had such a lovely spring in its step that I said to myself ‘what a cute dog!’

As I continued to look at the dog, I realized it was my little Foxy. She was out and about on a walk and play date with a local dog and its master. It made me laugh to think that even after all these years I’m still think she’s so cute. That I even mistake her for a dog that’s not mine.

Monday, December 6, 2010

The First and the Last Time

When my husband completed the marathon, I notified my mom that we were on our way home. She asked me if he was well and she told me ‘tell him this is the first and last time he should do that!’ I didn’t really think much of her admonishment because there isn’t much I can really do to control what my husband does or doesn’t do.

So the rest of that week, whenever I talked to her she reminded me ‘This is the first and last time he’s going to do that, right?” or “He got it out of his system so don’t encourage him to do any more.” I treated her suggestions much like Charlie Brown hears his teacher. However, she didn’t stop there.

On a few occasions she saw my husband and said ‘This is the first and last time you are going to run the marathon!’. Or she said something like ‘No more craziness with this running!’ My mom is one of the most persistent people I know.

Mostly she stuck to this because she has arthritis and thinks that running a marathon contributes to arthritis. Truth is, it doesn’t really matter what you do, arthritis happens. She also thinks and I quote ‘There is only one winner so what’s the point?’ And then to have her see that last year’s winner didn’t complete the race only added fuel to her anti-marathon fire! She told my husband, “You see, even the winner couldn’t finish. Why? Because his knee hurt!”

She hasn’t bought this up in the last few weeks but I’m sure it could come up again at any point in time. And that won’t be the first or last time for her to bring something up again. She enjoys beating dead horses.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Thumper

The other day I was in a great mood. I was singing holiday songs and getting into the spirit. Generally I was being silly. My husband made a comment about it and I said I was in a good mood because I had a wonderful wake up call that morning.

It was still dark in our bedroom. I ended up hearing one of the dogs licking at a wound so I propped myself up in bed. As soon as I did that, my dog stopped licking her wounds and immediately started to thump her tail on the floor. This is her way of showing how happy she is when we wake up.

So thump, thump, thump she went and then she proceeded to come closer. She gave me a kiss and I got out of bed to play with her. Whenever she is happy, she loves to cuddle and/or show me her belly or play kangaroo. We had a couple of good affectionate moments together and it put me in such a fantastic frame of mind. No matter what kind of sleep I have had the night prior, it always cheers me up to be greeted so happily in the morning. My dogs give new meaning to the saying “Good Morning, Sunshine!”

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Love, Italian Style

My parents have been married for 49 years. It’s quite an accomplishment and I sometimes use some of their tactics to keep my marriage as happy as theirs. A couple of key strategies that they use to keep the romance alive are: Surprise and Routine

My dad has certain traditions that he follows every autumn. He make his home made wine and eggplant. He picks (or we do) tomatoes and puts them in jars so we can use them through the winter when fresh tomatoes are hard to find. And he pits his own olives and then marinates them for eating.

This year, however, he missed the period to buy his olives. He was pretty bummed. My dad was as sad as a child who had his toy stolen right from under his eyes.

Knowing this, one day on a shopping trip, my mom bought him a case of olives. She proceeded to tell us how it was a surprise for my dad. We all thought it was the cutest and touching thing ever. In this way surprise worked to show how much my mom saw that my dad was sad and that she cared for him.

When I called my mom the next day to see how she was, she told me my dad was a jerk. The reason being was that he wanted to know why she wasn’t helping him with the olives. My mom told him that the olives were his own thing and that was something he was doing for years. The argument heightened and the name calling recommenced as usual.

In this way, I could see that routine is how they kept their relationship predictable and controllable. It’s a great lesson on marriage to learn from this example. Don’t surprise your spouse too much because the momentary happiness doesn’t outlast the everyday arguments and fighting.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

I was at a work event last night and conversation turned to some celebrities. A number of people said they liked a certain female actor. Via six degrees of separation, another female actor came up and a number of people expressed their dislike of her. They also questioned the raising of her children. It was a silly conversation that didn’t really pique my interest.

Until……someone said that the female actor we were talking about was a ‘whack job’.

This comment made my ears prick up because I wanted to automatically say ‘it takes a whack job to know one’ but I didn’t. I’m very happy I don’t have a public announcement system on my brain.

Monday, November 22, 2010

On the Mend

A month ago one of my dogs had to undergo knee surgery. It really made me sad to see her going through so much pain when all she gives me (for the most part) is happiness.

About two months ago, she jumped up a stair and let out the most horrifying screech of pain I’ve ever heard. I knew it was her knee because whenever I attempted to touch it to see the damage, she tried to bite me. We bought her to the vet and he confirmed our suspicions. She had torn her ligament. We decided that she should bandage it up for a bit and that sometimes that helps.

After 3 weeks in a bandage, she seemed worse to me. So she had her surgery and I cried and cried because I couldn’t take away her pain. She had to wear a cone around her neck to keep her from biting her stitches. So she looked like a little Frankenstein with a lampshade. Days after the surgery she was back to her usual self – mainly annoyed that she had ‘the cone of shame’ on her head.
Her stitches were removed and she was walking and about like nothing ever happened. Once the cone came off, she kept rolling around in pure ecstasy that the evil contraption had finally been removed.

Last week I noticed her trying to jump on the sofa (even though she should be keeping the jumping to a minimum) and I was so happy. Here she was trying to fully recover and I thought it was so cute. She is so resilient and has such gumption. The vet said that she should keep the jumping to a minimum of course but you tell Bonnette that. She decided to run after her daddy this weekend and there really wasn’t much I could do. It amazes me how strong dogs are and how little credit we give them in terms of recovery. We should all take a lesson from the experts!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Family Traditions

Thanksgiving is fast approaching. This is one of my favorite days of the year (after Groundhog’s Day, of course) for many reasons. First of all, I love the idea of Thanksgiving – showing appreciation for things and people in our lives. Secondly, I love to cook so it makes me enjoy the holiday more if I get to be creative in my cooking. Lastly, I love this special day because my dogs love it.

But the pooches aren’t the only ones that enjoy this holiday. My dad loves to spend this holiday with the dogs too. We always give the wings to my dad since they are his favorite pieces of the turkey. Occasionally we give him the legs as well.

For a good portion of the meal, we eat and talk and it’s lovely. All of a sudden, Bonnette will end up barking because she wants her share of the bird! We give the dogs some in their dishes and they are contented.

We sit around and have coffee and pie and talk and then I usually give my dogs a big hug after the meal since I’m particularly thankful for them because they always make me laugh. And…..they always have a greasy feel on their fur and smell suspiciously of turkey.

As with almost every year since we’ve had Thanksgiving at my place, I am reminded that my dad likes to use the dogs’ fur as his person turkey napkin. Ahhh! The joy of the holidays.

An early Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

All Those Years Ago

The other day my dad asked me how old my oldest dog was. I told him that Bonnette was 12 years old. He started laughing and saying how I told him 12 years ago that she was only going to stay for 2 weeks.

He has a point there. I did only intend to keep her for 2 weeks. But lots of fun stuff happened and she’s stayed with me ever since. And I’m super grateful because she’s a cookie to me! Can’t imagine my life without my little puppie paws!

What I told my dad though was that he shouldn’t sound like he was upset about this long-term canine roommate because my dad loves her more than any one else. I can’t tell you the number of times he and she have sat watching television together. Or how many times he’s given her some of his food. Or the number of times he comes over to my place on any given week to just pet her and give her a hug. He’s not fooling me!!

I told my sister the story of my dad and she laughed saying that ‘he loves Bonnette more than he loves us’. I had to agree with her. They don’t call dogs ‘man’s best friend’ for nothing. My dad is very attached to my dogs and he loves their companionship more than most other things in the world. I feel the same way about my dogs. They always know how to cheer me up and they are great at snuggling!!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Shopping with Jen

In keeping with my weird dream reporting blogs, a couple of months ago, I had a dream where Jennifer Garner figured prominently. Why Jennifer Garner? I’m not entirely sure. I do like her as an actor and I was certainly obsessed with ‘Alias’. But for her to appear in my dream, I’m at a loss for words to explain that.

My husband and I (along with a friend) were going to go to Jersey to shop with Jennifer Garner. We were planning to meet her at the mall in Jersey. Everything was fine and dandy. We were going to go to Port Authority to take a bus to NJ to meet up with Jen. We got to Port Authority and hubby, friend and I made our way to the ticket counter. All of a sudden, I got a call on my cell from none other than Jen herself. She told me she was outside in her car waiting for us. So hubby and I scrambled down to meet Jen while we left our friend on the ticket line in case it was all a prank.

When we got to the car, Jen asked us where our friend was and we told her. And she was upset because she said we should have brought her with us. So we scrambled up the Port Authority stairs to try to find out friend. But the lines were insanely long and we couldn’t locate her. And the dream stopped at this point or I don’t remember the rest.

But what does it all mean? I don’t recall seeing a movie or having a conversation about Jennifer Garner (or Port Authority for that matter!!) any time before this dream. I guess I’ll choke it all up to my fantastically wonderful imagination!

Finland, Finland, Finland

Sometimes I have the wildest dreams and it really provokes a lot of thought as to why I have these types of dreams. Recently I had a dream that I went on a cruise to Finland. Why Finland? I have no idea!

So I’m on this cruise and at some point, I was encouraged to dive into the sea (near Finland!) and see how blue the water was. From what I recall in the dream, the excursions coordinator handed me a sleek,full-body swimsuit. However when I put it on in the dream, I ended up looking more like the Michelin man. I still jumped into the ocean with my super sexy outfit though. (There’s just no stopping me!)

I dove in feet first and I went very deep and looking up towards the sky, I was amazed at the lovely azure surrounding me. When I finally came to the surface, schools of fish circled me. I was awestruck by the millions of fish and the lovely crystal blue water that I was swimming in.

Now, help me remember why I had a dream about a cruise to Finland! Because that I can’t remember. But I do recall the lovely blue water. I really don’t know why I have the dreams I do sometimes. I wasn’t even drinking the night before this dream. Otherwise, it would have made perfect sense that the dream made no sense! Oh well, at least I can be happy that I remembered some portion of my dream.

Monday, November 8, 2010

A Day at the Races

I am not a runner. I’m not physically programmed to be one. Even running for a minute on the treadmill makes me want to hurl. My husband, on the other hand, ran in college and was a professional runner after college. He lives to run. So much so that he decided to run the NYC Marathon for the first time this past Sunday.

In support for his efforts, I enlisted the help of my best bud to journey through the city to follow him. I looked over the course map with her and we decided we’d start our cheering in Bay Ridge. Not too far off the Verrazano Bridge, we thought we would catch him while he was still relatively fresh.

We met up at 9 am and jumped on the subway to make our way to Brooklyn. Everything was going fine until I had the bright idea to try to catch the express train at 14th street, not realizing that weekend subway work made this impossible. It was ok though. We got on the next train out of Manhattan and into Kings County we went. We had heard from others that the runners wouldn’t get to Bay Ridge until 10:30. Well, they were wrong!! As we climbed up the stairs from the subway, I heard the cheering and yelling. I was worried I had missed my husband. But there in front of my eyes was his bib number. And there he was too!! He handed me his fleece vest and we cheered him on. He raced by when we remembered that we didn’t get a picture of him. We chased after him while I dug through my purse for the camera. As it almost fell out of my hand, my friend, who was way ahead in her pursuit, stopped as did I. If I had dropped that camera, I would have been in the doghouse!!

From there, we went to see a friend who we were planning to watch the race with. And we decided to see her new apartment. We then decided we were hungry so we went to have brunch. We figured we had plenty of time to get to the city.

But we didn’t!! Not according to the runner alerts text messages I was getting and not according to the application my friend was using to track my husband. He was going to finish the race in 3:03:03 at the pace he was running. Our dawdling wasted almost 2 hours. We had to race back to the city abandoning our idea of going to Park Slope to catch him somewhere else.

Before ducking into the subway, we realized (thanks to our handy dandy apps!) that he was going to finish in little less than an hour. Would we be able to get back into the city in time?

No, of course not, because Murphy’s law follows me wherever I go. The train decided to take more than an hour lurching between stops in Manhattan. The time was now a little after 1 and we couldn’t tell if he had crossed the finish line because the apps weren’t reloading. We walked quickly up to Central Park West at my husband and my designated meet up spot. And we waited, and waited, and waited. We kept checking our apps and nothing was happening. We realized after a while that the 3:03:03 wasn’t counting from the minute he started but the actual hour he was expected to finish based on his pace. Not from the time that the race had begun. What do you want? This was the first time we watched a marathon, darn it! 3:03 came and went and still no sign of my husband.

I began to worry. I expected some cramping, sure. Some slowing down. But when his expected time came and went, I didn’t know what else to expect. It was getting colder and so many runners were coming out of the exit. Some bleeding from the friction tears along their thighs, blue shivering lips were seen in many finisher’s faces, ice packs wrapped around people’s knees. And we waited and I worried. Even though I was cracking jokes with my friend about how I could never run a race. We commented on how the early finishers seemed so fresh and sprightly as if they hadn’t run 26.2 miles at all! It was amazing to me since I was already sore from running a block and a half to catch up to my husband earlier in the day.

As I looked through his fleece vest to see if there was any indication of a number that I could call, I looked up and there was the Mexican in the crowd before me. He looked more exhausted than I’d ever seen him. His eyes teared up as did mine. I smiled at him and he made a sign to meet a few feet down. My friend and I walked down and as usual, we lost him again. We stood in the crowd looking to and fro for the 6’2” Mexican and we couldn’t locate him. Finally I noticed him way down in front of us. We finally met up. We congratulated him on his accomplishment and then my job changed from supporter to caretaker. It was a wonderful adventure not only for me, my friend and my husband but for so many people.

(To all the runners and families and supporters of the NYC Marathon)

Just Breathe

After 5 pm on any given day, in any given workplace, people are trying to get home as soon as possible. We all want the most direct and express trip to our abodes imaginable. I will not deny that feeling in myself. I’ve found though that the person who goes slowly with patience gets to their destination safely and sanely.

However a few days ago I was in the company of a woman who was not of the same opinion. She never told me directly; it was all in her actions.

She got on the elevator just a stop after I did. She gave all the occupants in the elevator a once-over. She made a ‘something smells bad’ face – flaring her nostrils. Then she stood in front of the switch-board, floor-selecting panel as the elevator lurched to a stop. On the floor just beneath hers, she sighed fairly loudly. People shuffled onto the elevator and the elevator descended to the next floor. Her opinion of this was to shake her head in disbelief. How dare an elevator descend floor by floor?

The elevator did become a ‘local’ despite this woman’s huffing and puffing. Mr. Otis decide today was a good one for the scenic rout.

I stood in the in the back corner of the elevator and watched the comedy unravel.

Floor 10 – she slightly punched the elevator wall
Floor 9 – she huffed even louder than before
Floor 8 – another sigh. Another passenger was holding in her laugher at Miss Patience
Floor 7 – a gentleman turned down his ipod looking as though we was going to tell her to calm down
Floor 6 – more aggravation and frustration. I began to wonder about her sanity

At that point the elevator sped to the ground floor. Everyone else stood to the side and let her off first out of fear that she’d become violent.

It made me wonder what was waiting for her at home. Unless she was just so distraught to still be in this miserable building. Heck, I’m miserable on a pretty constant basis and yet, I never put on a show like this lady did. I just know I don’t have much control over elevators, trains and other things that directly stand in my way of getting home. Perhaps she should invest in a jet pack?

Friday, November 5, 2010

Roman Holiday

The Eternal City is flushed in color – from the greys of the ancient ruins to the rainbow colors of the vespas as they speed by. The snow white of immense monuments and the verdant parks that surround these landmarks dance around the viewer like a frenzied tarantella.

My favorite colors of Rome come from the cultural elements that most people associate with ‘The Boot’: fashion and food.

I envy the palette of colors used for men’s dress shirts and sweaters in Italy. Various shades that can be found in a bubble gum machine. So fun! So vibrant! I always want to enter the male shops and beg them to carry the same hues in a women’s line but no luck. I’ll just have to continue my covetousness.

The second place where the crayon box appears is in every gelato case in the city. The primary colors are on display thanks to the many and mainly fruit sorbets

Lemon – yellow
Mandarin - orange
Strawberry-red
Pistachio – green
Blueberries – blue
Red Grape- purple

Whereas other flavors range in a continuum between black and white:
Dark chocolate
Milk Chocolate
Coffee
Hazelnut
Zabaione
Almond
Panna
Stracciatella (Vanilla Chip)
Vanilla

All of it pure deliciousness! It’s no wonder my eyes so often glaze over during all the visual excitement that is quotidian for all the Roman inhabitants.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

All Things Awesome

http://stephanpastis.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/my-awesome-lunch/

Thanks to a friend sending a recent post to me, I’ve taken to reading and enjoying Stephan Pastis’ blog. The link above is a recent post that made me howl not only because it’s funny but also because I have often thought the same thing myself.

I understand that awesome is used far too frequently because people don’t know understand the real meaning. In this particular case, I wonder if the person in question used ‘awesome’ to show her amazement that a service person actually did their job. Or was it being used sarcastically? Or is it just back to the overused/misunderstood definition of awesome?

The word awesome in general makes me laugh. It makes me think of a character in a television show I enjoy watching who is often called ‘Captain Awesome.” Most of the time when I use awesome, I use it to mean the absolute opposite.

What is awe inspiring though, is how Pastis writes these things on his blog and gets people to start thinking about how we communicate and how we use language.

Voting Polls are Open

Today is an important day. It's Election Day. And even if we aren't voting for the Presidency, it's important to go and exercise your rights as part of a democracy.

Today's elections are for the legislative branch of the US Government. It's important because they are the ones that pass and make the laws. So, if you want your rights to be the same or if you want them to change, it's important to make your voice heard by voting wisely for the person who best represents your thinking.

I went bright and early this morning. In fact, I was the 6th voter in my district. And in NYC, the voting machines are a little different. You get to fill in a blank and then scan your paper through a machine. It was really cool!

So go out there and make your opinions known.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Spies Like Us

While having a conversation with my friend the other day, we realized we have a penchant for spy novels, movies and televisions shows. The world of espionage intrigues us immensely. I was obsessed with the television show ‘Alias’ while it was on. I wanted to be a spy like Sydney Bristow – feminine, smart and kick-ass!

This television season there are a bunch of spy shows that I’m watching – ‘Nikita’ and ‘Undercovers’ to name a few. What intrigues me most about spies is their double lives. How can they keep the daily lives they are leading straight? I can barely walk into the kitchen without forgetting why I went there in the first place. Spies have to keep all their personality traits and stories in order so they aren’t found out! I hardly remember what my name is on most days.

I suppose I’m interested in spies because I want to see them mess up! I want to see them get caught. Or maybe I just think it’s cool to travel the world and know government secrets. Regardless, espionage is a guilty pleasure of mine.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Seasonal Allergies

Cursed! Plagued!! That’s me. I have had allergies for a number of years. Some times of the year are worse than others. I get an occasional flare up in the spring but the bane of my existence happens at the end of the summer. Just as the weather is easing into fall…
Ragweed! How I hate you?!


I woke up one morning last week and thought someone had inflated my brain. The pressure and tension of my congested head made me want to take a pin and pop myself. I felt like I was carrying a watermelon around as my head. At any moment, it could tumble forward and break!

This year’s symptoms have been more unbearable than usual. I dragged myself to the doctor only to hear what I had already known – it’s a bad allergy year. He gave me some new medication and it’s helped so far.

Irony isn’t lost on me. I absolutely love flowers and trees and yet every so often during the year, those same items of splendor and beauty make me want to just crawl into bed and sleep.

Disappearing Acts

Every so often some of my friends disappear off the radar screen in my life. It’s not always a mutual decision; it just happens. For some people this could be upsetting or off-putting but for me, it is ok. I am used to it.

One of my friends is pretty high up on the corporate food chain and is also a bit of a social misfit so I know that there will be radio silence. There is an understood agreement between us.

I’m not so great about being on top of my friends. I just think people are busy and I get busy too. It’s not as though I don’t think about them but sometimes work and life happen and I forget what is important.

A couple of recent events have made me realize it’s is important to stay in touch with friends. They do enrich your life and my friends always make me laugh. Work is always going to be there but friends may not be. It’s important to embrace them while they are around.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Black Coffee

Jetlag is hard to overcome. Usually a bit of melatonin and trying to get on a schedule based on the location I am at the moment helps. However, this time around it’s been a bit difficult.

Being in Italy for over 10 days makes my relationship with coffee a little different than my daily NYC coffee consumption. While in the Big Apple, I have one cup of American coffee for the most part. I do relish in an occasional treat of another cup on some days but it’s rare. However, in Italy, I end up having at least 3 espressos a day. This creates a problem.

Espresso may have less caffeine than a cup of Starbucks – probably 115 grams to the chain’s 175…but if I have at least 3 of them a day….I’m getting more caffeine!!

More caffeine throws my body out of whack…not really, but on some days it can. Especially when on one day alone I had 6 cups of espresso (the occupational hazard of visiting with family is the constant offering of espresso). The waves of energetic spikes followed by lethargy are tough. And that’s how I am feeling now that I am back in NYC. I have some moments of lucidity and then I just want to curl up and take a nap.

The only comfort is that I know that when I have my coffee, I’m more alert and productive. It’s sad for those who consistently drink coffee and it does absolutely nothing for the mental state – they are still sluggish and unproductive.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The List of Signs

Lately I’ve been reading many articles on how you know you need a new job or how to know you are bored with your job. I’ve decided to give my input on this very fashionable topic.

Signs you need a new job according to me:
1) You ask anyone and everyone you know if they have a gun to use either on yourself or to use on those who inflict daily work torture on you
2) Most of your answers to any work decisions is “I don’t care” or ‘I don’t give a flip’
3) When a office dweller says “Good Morning” to you, your gut response is to say “Die!” to them
4) You are convinced you have some kind of disease based on all the health symptoms amassing in, around and on your body
5) Even if the floor you work on is like an igloo, you never notice because you are fuming with rage every moment of every workday

If you can think of more, please let me know. This is not a definitive list at all.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Saving Lives

Prioritization is something you learn throughout life and often it’s from on-the-job experience. You have a whole checklist of things that need to be done. You assess which items are the most important things to do while also determining which items can wait for a few hours or days.

I think I’m pretty good at prioritizing stuff. If what I need to do affects clients, then I need to get on top of that as soon as possible. If it is something that doesn’t impact clients, I can move it down my list. But what I come across on a daily basis is a serious problem – it’s the chicken-without-a-head urgency that some people put on work items that in my view doesn’t merit all the commotion that they are creating.

A few days ago this guys called me at work and sounded like he was hyperventilating about completing something. This ‘thing’ didn’t impact clients and it certainly wasn’t super important in the scheme of things. But boy did it sound like an aneurysm was about to happen while he was talking on the phone with me.
I finally told him he needed to calm down because it would all be worked through and completed. It momentarily quieted his ticker but I’m sure after he hung up, he must have croaked.

I’m not a doctor and I sure as hell don’t play one on tv. What I can’t seem to understand is why so many people in the business world think that everything is a matter of life and death. I must have missed a memo! I don’t see the point to all the fire drills and all the dog-chasing-its-tail madness. I guess that could explain why I don’t feel like I’m going anywhere while others move up the ladder.

All I have to say is that it’s nice when some people who are ‘saving lives’ at work aren’t at work. I feel like I never have to scrub in and resuscitate anyone. All of this mad scrambling certainly makes me appreciate those emergency room doctors and nurses a lot more though.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Don't Be So Corny

You can’t drive anywhere in Mexico without being greeted by their dependency on corn. It’s a part of the culture and the food in so many ways. Where other countries make and consume bread, Mexicans eat tortillas which are usually made out of corn. Mexicans break off pieces of the hot thin corncakes and use them to mop up whatever food is left on their plate. Or they use the tortillas to make tacos out of whatever is for breakfast, lunch or dinner. To not have tortillas at a meal is a sin.

Corn is a fantastic vegetable. I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who hated corn. It’s warm and sweet and welcoming like many Mexicans. I’ve had my share of tortillas and although I like them, I prefer flour tortillas ( I commit a crime every time I ask for them, I know). But tortillas aren’t the only place to taste corn.

Corn is dried and ground up to make masa, which is used to make tortillas. Masa is also used to make tamales. Tamales are usually the masa with some local produce or meat that is wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed. It’s so luscious and flavorful no matter what the interior combination is. I do love tamales with cheese or huitlacoche ( a corn fungus – I told you they love their corn) or salsa verde. But let me go back to the corn for a moment.

Corn in Mexico is different than corn found in the USA. It’s not as sweet. The kernels are much bigger and have more of a gritty taste to them. They sometimes use the kernels to make pozole, which is another fabulous concoction with corn. But honestly the best way to have corn in Mexico is two ways:

1) On the cob – called elote
2) Or in a soup – called esquite

You find street vendors all over Mexico selling boiled corn on a cob. You can garnish this cob with any number of things. Sometimes nothing more than butter. Other times, you use mayonnaise. Some people put chili pepper and lime juice on the corn while others coat it in cheese. It’s quite a rich meal no matter how you prepare it. I had always heard about elote from my husband but I never tasted it until this visit. I had mine with mayonnaise that had a touch of lime juice and some chile pepper. I felt like I was eating the most fantastic 5 star appetizer in my life. The heat off the chili was accompanied by the cooling component of the mayonnaise. Yummy doesn’t even come close to describing the happiness is my mouth and my tummy while I was consuming it.

The second dish – esquite - is just as fabulous. It’s nothing more than boiling corn in some water and using some fresh herbs to bring out the inherent complexity of this Mexican corn. Of course like more dishes in Mexico people adorn the soup with lime juice, chili, tortilla chips. I like mine with a little lime. It is as comforting as a hot bowl of chicken soup on a cold day. This is all Mexican comfort food and if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend you try it.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Sweet and Spicy

Mexican food is so rich in flavors and textures. One of my favorite specialties is called Chiles en Nogada. It can only be found in Mexico and in Mexican restaurants around this time of the year. The reason that this meal is in hiding the rest of the year is due to its ingredients. They aren’t the most exotic ingredients but in keeping with seasonal produce, they only appear in and around September.

The first component is the walnut but it’s not any old walnut. It’s a special one that needs to be peeled to reveal only the pulp. The skin of this special walnut tends to be bitter and that would take away from the complexity of the chiles. This walnut is used with condensed milk or some other kind of cooling dairy agent (cream, sour cream etc) to create a sweet sauce to go over the chiles.

The main portion of the meal comes from the poblano pepper – itself a hearty smoked pepper with a slight bitterness – stuffed with various items. The stuffing can be made of ground beef or pork mixed with raisins and spices and nuts. Sometimes the walnut makes its appearance in the stuffing itself. Other times one finds almonds among the mix. The stuffing is often spicy with various other chilis adding their heat to the dish.

When you cut through the sauce and into the pepper and taste the entrée, your mouth feels first a cool sweetness accompanied by a spicy, crunchy, crumbly mixture. The sensation it leaves in your mouth is incredible. Varying from sweet to heat is intense enough on its own. Then to have the liquid sauce melt over the brittle members of the stuffing feels like a firework exploding in your mouth.

I love to eat. When a dish is full of complexity such as Chiles en Nogada, it makes me happy to be alive and to be able to keep tasting such true gastronomic miracles.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Family Reunion

As you might know, I have issues with the institution known as the ‘family’. Based on my past and the past of my family, it has always manifested itself as pejorative instead of ameliorative. I have always tried to forge my own definition in opposition to what I grew up with and saw. I can’t say I have been entirely successful but I keep forging ahead.

My husband is very family-oriented which is tricky because his concept of family is very different than mine. For him, family can do no harm. They are your support system and who you turn to when you need help. In theory, I agree with this and accept it. It hasn’t completely been this way for me; I wish I had more experiences to foster that same understanding in myself. I often look for support outside my family. I’ve created an infrastructure of good friends and one or two family members to whom I turn when I need advice or have a problem.

Given this information family reunions are comparatively different for both of us. I barely have family reunions. I think I only see cousins when someone is in the hospital or when there is a funeral. On occasion I might catch up with people at weddings. With the exception of one cousin, I rarely see my paternal cousins. My maternal cousins are in Italy. And even there, I only communicate extensively with one of them. Although I do talk often to one of my aunts.

My husband on the other hand, talks to his cousins frequently via email or on Facebook. And whenever we return to Mexico, we see most of his maternal cousins. This time around I finally got to meet some of his paternal cousins. And it was bittersweet. It’s nice to see people so happy to see each other - for a big family to sit around a table and make fun of each other in a nostalgic way. The infecting sound of laughter after the retelling of stories and remembrances of common moments where everyone had fun. No moments of dejection where the maliciousness of mistakes are retold to feel superior to those around you. No jumping down each other’s throats when people disagree with opinions.

The warmth I felt in their midst is something that I never feel with my extended family. I can only replicate that warmth with my dogs, my sister and my friends. I suppose ‘family’ is what you make of it. I choose my family while my husband has one.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

When You Are Standing in Poop

There’s this saying that has always resonated with me. It goes like this: When you are standing in poop for so long, you don’t notice the smell.

Lately this saying has been echoing for me on a lot of levels. My job is incredibly stressful and there really isn’t any need for it to be this way. I’m not saving any lives with the work I do. NO ONE ON MY TEAM is saving lives with the work we do. Yet, there is always a mad rush to get things done and to solve every problem there is. I could say it’s the nature of the institute and area I work in but I still think it’s ridiculous. None of this stress is necessary. It’s pointless.

My dad’s been sick and it’s been causing a number of problems across my family. It’s made my mom very angry and added undue stress to her and all of our lives. But the problem is my dad isn’t going to change. It’s sad because his behavior influences all of us but he’s too selfish to see that.

Family relations have always been tenuous and yet with all of the stuff happening with my dad, they seem multiplied – mostly because everyone expects me to be the peacemaker. I don’t even know how diplomats and politicians work around obtaining peace with people who want to consistently be at war. That’s what I experience so I don’t know how I am supposed to change that either.

I’ve been trying to get out of my slump – change my thinking, do things outside my routine but I’ve seen very little progress. A lot of other things which I don’t even want to get into are making me upset but I just keep it to myself.

Hence why I say that when you stand in poop so long, you don’t notice the smell. Change has to happen and as patient as I’ve been and as hard as I’ve worked, I guess I have to try harder.

Friday, August 20, 2010

The Mysterious 15th Floor

Lately I’ve noticed some strange happenings on the 15th floor of my building. My elevator bank goes up to the 16th floor where I have my cubicle. On an almost daily basis I am intrigued by the events that occur in and around the 15th floor while I ride up and down in the elevator.

If I’m riding down in the elevator and it stops on the 15th floor, I am certain to be delayed because the people on this floor aren’t ever sure if they should be getting on the elevator. I wonder to myself ‘didn’t they press the down button?’ Whomever enters is usually dilly-dallying before crossing the threshold from the 15th floor onto the elevator. It begs me to wonder why this is happening.

If I am riding up in the elevator and someone presses the 15th floor button, they ultimately watch the doors of the elevator open and look out on the 15th floor as if they have never seen this floor before. This makes me wonder ‘do they work on this floor at all?” because the deer-in-headlights look that is produced suggests that they are surprised – as if this is a new experience or that they are about to be killed once they step off the elevator.

I noticed for a while that it seemed to be the same types of people who were having these delayed responses on and off the 15th floor. Of course I jumped to the conclusion that something bad was happening to these people when they stepped off this floor. But recently I noticed that this is happening with everyone who gets on and off that floor.

Whenever I get a chance, I will need to investigate further. Maybe there is some kind of space/time portal or vacuum that exists on this floor. That might explain the sensation of newness that seems to be expressed by many of these 15th floor residents.

As a matter of fact, in my elevator bank the 11th and 12th floors are missing from the elevator selection. So if you move the floors down, the 15th floor would technically be the 13th floor. That might explain the altogether strange behavior happening on this floor.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

His Eyes

His Eyes
His eyes look at other women
In the street
In magazines
In photos
He doesn’t see that I see
Or he doesn’t care

His mouth says to other women
‘My Love’
‘My Dear’
‘My Heart’

Said and done in front of me
Without a single regret
And the pain
In inflicts in me
Like a knife
And the blood pours out
And the cut stings because
The tears keep flowing internally
They are kept inside

He doesn’t see this as an issue
When I point it out
The activity doesn’t mean a thing
He’s with me
Not sure why that excuse should suffice but
I don’t expect a change
From him
But there will be a change from me

Speedy Recovery

My dad has been in the hospital for the last few weeks. It’s upsetting to see him there but I also know that 63 years of smoking cigarettes couldn’t go unlooked for too much longer. Needless to say, I was as prepared as I could be for this news.

My dad is very stubborn. He knows the best ways to do things and he’s always right. He hates doctors and hospitals but does he behave in any way that would allow him to avoid seeing these people and places? No! And goodness gracious if we ever mentioned he should stop smoking or drinking, the verbal sewage that comes out of his mouth is amazing. After a while, I accepted he wouldn’t ever make any changes for his health.

The problem is that my dad waited too long to get some help. He was severely worn down and weak. The months of coughing and not eating well had taken their toll and he wasn’t able to move too well. He has been able to get in and out of bed and has been making strides towards recovery. However, the doctors weren’t as pleased with his progress as he thought they should be. They really wanted him to be more mobile and to gain more strength; otherwise, they were going to put him into a rehabilitation facility.

After receiving that news, my dad got his appetite back. He was walking to and from the bathroom in his hospital room. He was threatening to throw people out the window if they disturbed him while he was sleeping. It looked like he made a miraculous recovery.

Now he’s in a rehabilitation unit and he’s trying to get his muscular strength back. He confided in me that he’s bored and wants to go home. But I know (just as the rest of the family does) that he will start smoking again the minute he comes home. So we’ll be back to the drawing board soon enough, I’m sure.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Things of Which I'm Pretty Certain

I love to read Oprah Winfrey's 'O' Magazine and she has a column on things she knows for sure....and paying homage to my friend Marni and her most recent post, I thought I'd compile my list of things of which I'm pretty certain

1) People don't change. They just become more of who they really are...and some of those people just aren't nice and you should avoid them.

2) Some days pizza will be my favorite food and other days it will be sushi.

3) Many things happen for a reason but the reason isn't apparent at the exact moment when it happens.

4) Many people could benefit from therapy so that they'd annoy others less often.

5) Dogs are darn cute! (This I'm very certain of!!)

6) Some children are so precious you almost want to eat them (ahem - shout out to Marni and Holly).

7) Laughter is often the best medicine. Other times, it's Advil.

8) Paper cuts and mosquito bites are annoying.

9) Some men and women can be friends. For others it's not possible at all.

10)The most important person to get it 'right' with is yourself. You are the only person who is around with you all the time!!

11)Really loving someone is both the greatest and most difficult thing in the whole world.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Patience is a Virtue

As a Taurus one of the main personality traits that is attributed to this sign is having patience. I see that in myself. There are moments when things that might drive someone else up a flagpole, just don’t seem to bother me. I can maintain a pretty calm head around a lot of people and I like that about myself.

However there are times when my patient nature falls into the sewer. And what’s funny is that this usually happens when I am around impatient people. I do love irony, don’t you know.

I deal with clients a lot and with people who are emotionally damaged (in many senses of this phrase) and these people are not very patient. Being around them drives me bonkers!! Excitability doesn’t register well with me.

So I find that I need to be patient more often with impatient people. I certainly don’t expect them to grow patient skin overnight. I have to realize that patience is very hard to find for many people.

I worry though that my long patient fuse will run out after a while and I’ll just become the bull in the china shop. If that happens, you’ll most certainly see it manifest here.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Old-Fashioned

As much as I try to keep up with technology, I often find that the best way is the old way. I have a ‘Nook’ – Barnes and Nobles version of the Kindle and it’s cool. I love it because it’s compact; can hold many books at once without breaking my neck and it’s convenient for vacations (when I usually get through a number of books).

This morning however, I was reminded of why I don’t like technology. I went to the gym to follow my daily routine. I got on my cardio machine of the day and selected the settings. I opened up my Nook, turned the machine on only to find that it wasn’t turning on. It was too tired apparently to help me out this morning. Needless to say, I was less than thrilled. I honestly didn’t know how to work out without reading something. I had left my music carrier in my bag because I had my Nook with me! And if I went to get my music, it would just mean I’d have to work out for less time since I have a very limited window within which I can exercise. I was very frustrated.

The first thought that came to my mind after this glitch was ‘A regular book would turn on just fine!’ I guess what made me even more annoyed about this whole situation is that I use the Nook at this moment to get through ‘Anna Karenina’. I purposely bought the novel as an ebook so that I wouldn’t have to carry that weight around. And now that I couldn’t turn it on, I was even further behind than I wanted to be with my reading. And if I had just carried the weight of the book, I wouldn’t have even been in this situation where I couldn’t read during my workout!

I see the irony in all this, of course. As much as it makes me laugh to look at this in hindsight. At the very moment it was happening, I wanted to hurl my Nook across the gym floor. Call me old-fashioned; I don’t mind. With some things, it’s easy to see why it’s best to stick with the simpler things in life.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Best Buds

The Mexican and I recently had a visitor. I should really say that the Mexican had a visitor since I wasn’t that affected by this visitor. My husband’s best friend came to visit us for a few days. He and the Mexican had a good time acting stupid for a good 4 days.

They reminisced. They came up with new reasons to make fun of each other. They invented new things to laugh at. Overall, it was nice to see my husband be so happy and laughing so much.

It made me really think about why it’s so important to spend time with friends. You can tell them the best stuff that happens to you and the worst. And they stick by you.

I know I’ve had numerous interesting stories with some of my good friends. I can never forget the dinner at ‘Ay Chihuahua’ with my friend, Amanda, or the bicycle ride in Montreal with Marni or Marseilles with Rosa. These are moments that turn to concrete in my memory and I love them.

Even if I don’t understand a single thing that my husband and his friend talk about, I know it’s important for them to have this ‘stupid’ time together. They talked almost non-stop for 4 days; to the point where The Mexican lost his voice after his friend’s departure. It’s nice to see and feel that sense of happiness when friends are together.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Little Things Mean a Lot

I wasn’t in the mood to go to work today. It’s been a really emotionally tough week and I just couldn’t handle another fire drill, fast paced for no reason day. But somehow I got out of bed and went to the gym as usual. Worked out, showered, dressed and made my way into the building. Of course my laptop insisted it didn’t want to load correctly so I had to reboot twice.

Finally things were settling in and I got the email that made my heart jump and made me realize that maybe there was a god. My boss wasn’t going to be in today. A bunch of the insane meetings we normally have on Thursday were cancelled and I could finally get some work done!!!

No interruptions from some people today. I could actually spend a week without explaining how numbers are reconciling to someone who should already know this! I could try to get a move on some of my work. I wanted to skip and jump into the air and clap my heels together! Hallelujah!!

This one little email raised my spirits beyond the heavens. Isn’t it amazing how life does that sometimes?

Enjoy the little things because they really do make difference. It’s often the only thing there is to be happy about.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

What's Happening?

Back in the day, I loved to watch after school television. One of my favorites was called “What’s Happening?” I don’t know why I loved it so much but if I missed it, I’d be very upset.

The show was about three African American friends by the name of Raj, Dwayne and Rerun. The plot of the show mostly dealt with their meeting up in diner everyday and talking about their problems and each of them making fun of each other. The diner had a waitress named Shirley who had attitude and pretty much disliked everyone. But boy could she come up with great comebacks and one-liners! She was my hero.

Raj was a total nerd and he had a younger sister, Dee who often made an appearance on the show. She and Raj didn’t get along too well. They showcased the typical sibling rivalry especially that of the older, protective brother over a precocious little sister. Occasionally, we’d see their mom and she was always the voice of reason. She also had the most calming voice I had ever heard.

Rerun had high hopes. He wanted to be a star but he lacked something. He lacked a small frame. Rerun was heavy set and often a lot of the laughs on the show came from his being big-boned. He had a good heart, as they all did but he was just misguided.

Dwayne was the ‘dumb’ one in the group. The picnic basket was definitely missing some sandwiches with him. But he was cute and lovable and had a nice smile. He always got the girl, including this one. I had a little crush on him, I admit it.

The reason I bring this up is that I was talking to a friend about how good tv shows were back in the day. Perspective is an important thing. While I loved Shirley when I was young, I’m pretty darn sure she’d annoy the heck out of me in real life. Her negativity would aggravate the crud out of me of me now-a-days. I guess I should try to track down that show and see if it is as great now as I thought it was back when I was a kid.

Monday, July 26, 2010

O Canada!

More than a month ago, I went to Vancouver and Victoria B.C. in Canada. I had been to Vancouver before and remembered liking it immensely. Going again only solidified my original idea. Vancouver is such a lovely and green place. The people there were super friendly and overall, it was clean and easy to get around.

Stanley Park, one of the main attractions in Vancouver, was verdant and immense, even if it was raining a bit while we were there. The views of the water and the mountains surrounding Vancouver made it look like a postcard!

We took a ferry to Victoria one day and although it was a bit chilly, the views were worth it - lush greenness everywhere. Seagulls flew alongside our boat and didn’t caw at us like the seagulls in the States do.

I’ve been to Canada a number of times and each time I am so blown away by how polite everyone is. One of the public buses actually had a note on the front saying ‘Out of Service. Please wait for the next bus.
Sorry for the inconvenience”. I nearly fell on the floor because you would never see Manhattan public transit take responsibility for any of the transportation issues, much less be nice about causing the inconvenience.

It just makes me wonder why we’ve become so rude and impolite here in NYC. I know the idea of the Big Apple is all about getting ahead and it’s dog eat dog. But is it really any better to be nasty to each other? I don’t think so. We could learn a lot about niceness and leading a more pleasant life by taking some pointers from our neighbors to the north.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Exercise Partners

In the summer months I tend to spend the weekends out on Long Island at my parent’s house. As much as I love going there and enjoying the place, I don’t have access to my local gym to do my daily workouts. To make up for this I do exercise DVDs. I have an array of them – mostly from ‘The Biggest Loser’ line. I find them helpful and challenging and I get my exercise in during the weekend.

While I work out, I get the occasional assistance from Foxy. She’s my personal trainer. She comes over when I am doing ab work and licks my face to let me know I’m doing a good job. Often too when I am working on my butt and thighs, she’ll lean over and lick the sweat off my face. Whenever I do yoga, she encourages me by showing me exactly how to do ‘downward dog’. She says I don’t put enough emphasis in my shoulders. I couldn’t agree more with her recommendations. Whenever I’m cooling down, she’ll come over and help me with straddle stretches by getting between my legs and giving me her belly. This way as I rub her stomach, I’m going lower into my stretch.

Foxy is far more interested in my well being but that doesn’t mean Bonnette doesn’t care. Sometimes when I am doing crunches, I see her between my feet and she smiles at me. She too enjoys licking my face to remove the perspiration that is accumulating.

Last weekend, I encouraged my sister to do a yoga workout with me. It was challenging in the extreme humidity. Foxy made sure both my sister and I were not overheating by going back and forth between us and kissing us. When it came to the cool down, my sister and I were doing some stretches on the floor, pulling our knees to our chests. Foxy decided that it was a good time to show us how she does this stretch. She got on her back too, showed us her tummy and pulled in her knees and arms. While doing this relaxing stretch, she showed us how important it is to stick your tongue out when doing rigorous exercise in the heat.

The Mexican walked by while we were doing our stretches and wished he had a camera to capture the yoga class that we were conducting. I called this yoga session – ruff yoga for Foxy. I’m grateful that she’s always so on top of my health.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Bad to the Bone

Rat Terriers are a spunky breed of dog. They are small and very energetic as puppies. They get a little less energetic as they grow older but not by much. The one thing I know for sure is that they know what they want and they know how to communicate it.

Bonnette has always been a vocal dog. From the first day that I bought her home, she didn’t want to stay in her crate that night. She cried and began to bark her little bark. She gave me those eyes when I went to check on her and well, that was pretty much the end of it. So at 2 months old, she knew how to manipulate. And she was good at it.

After the first couple of weeks, I had to lay down the law with her. There would be no chewing of my shoes, no eating of paper, no begging for food. I trained and trained her and she became manageable. She still barked every so often – bizarre noises, the ‘you aren’t paying attention to me’ bark - but she was much better. She would sit, give me five, lie down, stay and leave it. ‘No’ would get a look but she’d ultimately obey.

Then she got to spend some time with her grandparents and all hell broke loose. When I got her back, she was a barking machine. When she didn’t like something she would certainly let me know. One time on a trip to Vermont, we took her and Foxy on a walk to a waterfall. Along the way, we encountered some puddles and Bonnette got very wet. She turned around and barked at us and ran towards the car. She got to the car and barked at us to get over there and open the door. She seemed to say ‘I’m dirty and cold and I need to get in this car pronto!’. We have been joking since that day that Bonnette is punctuating every sentence with ‘bitches’. “Give me my food, bitches’, “I need to go for my walk now, bitches’ etc.

Despite this barking, she’s very affectionate and protective and I love her tremendously. It’s her attitude that makes her adorable at times. Other moments it’s just that even though she is 12 years old, she’s still a puppy. She’s still got that plucky personality that made me fall in love with her all those years ago.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Cone Head

About a month ago, my dog Foxy got bitten by some kind of bug. It produced an allergic reaction all over her tummy and legs that made her itch like crazy. In her attempts to relieve her itching, she bit and chewed off parts of her fur and had actually made herself bleed with all the itching and chewing. It was horrible to see.

We rushed her to the vet where she was given a cortisone injection to relieve the need for itching. She was given a lot of medicine to alleviate the need to itch and to ensure that her open wounds would heal. All of this would have been fine. But she was also given a cone to wear around her head to keep her from continuing to bite at her wounds.
For a while I wasn’t even sure what was worse, seeing her bite her wounds raw or watching her being frustrated with a cone on her head. For the first day, she attempted everything imaginable to remove the cone. She put her face on the floor which resulted in a sight that looked like a lampshade on the floor with a curved fuzzy animal bending out of it. She pawed at the end of the cone to try to pull it off. No luck. She walked into trees with the side of the cone in hopes that it would just bounce right off. She used a hydrant to pull on the string that kept the cone tied to her neck. Every attempt was foiled.

She finally got used to it – as much as she could be, I guess. She walked around dejected and sad – as if she was being punished. We kept encouraging her that it was temporary and that it was so she wouldn’t have to go to the vet again (the visit to the vet alone caused an insane amount of panic in her which broke my heart as well). She just sat with her tummy on the floor and the cone around her head and gave us sad eyes. An occasional sigh could be heard emanating from the cone. She was so depressed.

After cleaning up all the food that got trapped in her cone and clipping all the matted hair around her face due to the saliva and drool that collected in the cone at night, I decided to give her a chance. The chance came when I was trying to drive my car and she kept hitting me with the cone…it was time to remove the cone.

When it was pulled off her head, she was ecstatic! She started wagging her tail again. She gave me ‘paw’. She kissed my hand and face to show her appreciation. The smile returned to my doggy’s face. All this begs the question – isn’t there a better way to get dogs to not bite themselves?

Monday, July 12, 2010

The Book by Its Cover

Recently I read a book called ‘Marry Him: The Guide to Marrying Mr. Good Enough’. Strange as it seems for me, a married woman, to read a book like this – I wanted to see what this author had to say for my single friends. The author makes a good point that occasionally a book looks interesting from the cover and then you get into it and you can’t believe how great or bad it is. What she means to say is that sometimes the superficial is fantastic in a potential mate but the inside is horrible. Or the inside is fantastic but you need a little time to get to see that with a person as well as you would with a book.

It made me think about how many books I started and was seriously trudging through until at a certain point they picked up speed and I couldn’t put them down. But I had to invest the time to get to that point where I didn’t want to put the book down. And I had to invest some time to get to a point where I could decide that I’d rather have needles inserted into my retina than to continue reading a book.

Her whole argument is that women often say there is no spark or chemistry after the first date. And that’s just not enough time to make that call. I had to agree with that. Even my husband for instance, who I met while he was wearing a hideous bright red Hawaiian shirt, would never have gotten past the book by its cover phase if I had used the criterion that so many women use.

I knew I liked him that first night. It was easy to talk to him and he was funny. I can’t entirely say if we had sparks or chemistry, I just knew I liked his sense of humor. But he had that shirt and he was plagued with two left feet. If I had abandoned him that night, I’d need to read that book right now but from a different perspective.

I kept thinking about my husband and all the fantastic books I never would have read or experienced if I had just left them at the cover and the first few pages. So women, please let some of the hang ups go! Give some people and books a little bit of a chance.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Hole-y Moley

Social graces elude me on a consistent basis. I've walked around with two completely different shoes on around the office a couple of times. I've forgotten my regular bra and had to wear my sport bra under my work clothes a few time. Mismatching socks are good and trustworthy friends. I've even left the house with a jacket that still had the security tag on it from the store.

Scatterbrained ---maybe?

But what happened when as I'm tucking my shirt into my pants in the bathroom at work today I notice a big hole in my pants right on my rear end? Well, I tried to tuck the shirt in and it just seemed obvious as the white shirt poked out of a space on my grey pants. So I decided to not tuck in the shirt, but the occasional reflection of my bright fushia underwear made its appearance on the white shirt. So, I got out my jacket. And that covered it to a point. The bottom of the jacket hit just below the hole. But that meant, I had to consistently verify that the jacket was covering the hole.

That was ok but I realized that as I sat down,the pants gave way a bit and the hole showed whenever I got up. Cinch it to the rescue! I pulled in as much of the pant as I could into the belt I was wearing. And then I collected all the extra material like a group of clothing petals that formed over my belt.

My tactics worked, luckily. Stylish, I was not! But I was successful at keeping others from noticing my holey pants!

Monday, June 28, 2010

The Beautiful Game

Growing up in an Italian family, there is almost no way to avoid soccer. It becomes a topic during most get togethers and seems to punctuate every Sunday meal with the family. It’s in the blood.

Every four years we are blessed with the wondrous event known as the World Cup. I remember many a summer afternoon sitting in front of someone’s television watching the game of the day. Occasionally we’d watch at my aunt’s house and it would be a reunion of sorts – everyone coming to her place to see each other and to yell at the TV together.

On some occasions the men and the women watched separately as the women undeniably yelled at the referees a little more than the men. Although the men made more guttural noises during the matches – awwwws when their teams missed a goal, oooohs when the opposing team just missed making a goal. It was great fun and I have fond memories of some world cups. Notably the 1982 Italy win when everyone went out into the streets with their cars and motorcycles honking horns and screaming. I don’t think anyone went to sleep before 4 am that night.

Four years ago will be remembered by my husband as the year when I yelled so loud for a goal that I woke my dog. This year is the year when I still yell at the TV but need to leave the room when his team is losing so as not make him more nervous. We have very different soccer watching styles. He’s far quieter than I am and I need to yell at the coaches or at the TV when I get frustrated.

I do enjoy watching soccer most of the time but I don’t watch it with the intensity that I do when the world cup is on. All the TVs in every house are showing the match and all chores are done while watching the teams on the field.

This year, I’d like for an underdog to win but it’s not looking that promising. I hope the rest of the games are exciting to watch and that they are as memorable as some of the matches so far have been.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Out, Out Damned Spot

My husband and I love to eat. I thoroughly enjoy cooking; it relaxes me completely. The creativity that comes with cooking is also something that fulfills me when I’m not being creative in other areas of my life. My husband also likes to cook and it can be a fun experience to eat what he’s concocted.

But we also love to eat out. I especially like to try different cuisines and restaurants. It is one of my favorite aspects of living in New York City – the sheer assortment of cultures and restaurants out there.

I think my husband likes to try new things too. I can often tell exactly how much he likes a restaurant by the number of spots he gets on his clothes. The more stains a shirt has, the more he has enjoyed his meal. If my husband doesn’t christen a shirt with a spot, the meal probably wasn’t that good. He most definitely will not recommend it to others. Plus, without the proof on his shirt or pants, what can he possibly show to convince them?

I try to keep my clothes in the best shape possible. But there is the occasional white shirt that gets christened with a yummy tomato sauce or an energizing coffee drink. It happens to all of us. Maybe instead of getting those spots out, we can make a collage of our best meals?

Friday, June 18, 2010

Inner Struggle

I had a really bad day yesterday. Work was horrendous on so many levels and it just put me in such a bad mood. I found myself meditating and talking to myself to get myself out of the funk I was in. I was truly disappointed with myself because I was practicing some new techniques since my vacation.

After I got back from vacation I had told myself that I would try to be more positive and not let things get to me so much. I’ve been dealing with a lot of the physical effects of stress these last two years that I really needed to find a way to not let things get to me as much. So after a week and two days of being more relaxed and happier due to my new found positivistic attitude, it went straight to the dumpster by about 10 am yesterday morning.

What makes me so frustrated about this mood going into the trash is that it’s tiring to be upset. Then talking myself into a good mood also makes me tired. All these conversations within my own head are just as exhausting at times as just letting the emotion be. But being angry isn’t a great way to be either. And talking to oneself, even if it’s inside my own head, probably isn’t a way to stay sane either.

Another example of this inner talk happened a few weeks ago. Someone I know did something that really upset me and made me feel horrible. I felt like the ugliest duckling ever. But instead of letting it get to me, I spent a couple hours talking to myself into thoughts of:
“It’s their problem, not mine”
“They don’t realize what they have”
“They are selfish and have no idea how stupid they are being”

It worked for the most part but those days sure were tiring. I don’t think an intense workout would have made my body feel as tired as my mind did during that period.

Most times it really is mind over matter and it’s the strength of mind that gets us through a lot of things. But you’ll never hear me deny the toll this inner struggle takes on a person.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Cherchez La Femme (Francaise)

This entry has very little to do with the French language. It was mostly based on a thought I had earlier today.

One of my good friends, Jimmy, would always say that French girls acted a certain way. And for the most part I agreed with him. French girls do have a tendency to act in a way that makes the stereotype true. They pout, they complain, they are moody and sometimes need a lot of attention. I know this after spending time in France and having a number of French female students. However I got confirmation from Jimmy and we sometimes say this about a mutual friend who is a very French female, which makes sense because she’s French.

However, lately I’m starting to see this behavior a lot with American girls. I’m thinking of one person in particular and how they have been acting for the last two days. It’s driving me a little batty because the pouting, the negativity and the need for attention is not something I do. And it’s not something I tolerate too much outside of France either. So I thought I would write this for my friend, Jimmy. Jimmy…this isn’t appealing or attractive in women. You are right!

Don't Drink the Water

You are probably thinking this has something to do with Monteczuma’s revenge. Oh but it doesn’t. This fun and exciting topic is being bought to you by “Pelvic Sonogram”.

I recently went to the ‘lady’ doctor, as my mom calls it, for my yearly exam. I told her I had some female issues and she sent me to get a pelvic sonogram. In order to get a pelvic combined sonogram, they need to go trace around your stomach with this machine to see the outside view of the uterus and stuff. Then they go inside you with a probe to check the inside view. (I’m trying not to be graphic but I’m not sure it’s working)

In order to do the outside view, you need to have a full bladder. They tell you to drink lots of water before you go for this sonogram. (Something about the sonic waves from the machine gives a clearer picture through liquid.) I’m fine with drinking lots of water; I normally do. But having to wait 2 hours for the sonogram with a full bladder was not a joyous event in the least. I found I couldn’t sit without wanting to run to the bathroom and I couldn’t stand without the urge to tinkle. It was truly annoying and uncomfortable.

Sadly though, I had to go back for another pelvic sonogram when my original one showed some abnormalities. So this time around, I didn’t drink as much water because I was afraid I’d have to wait a while before they would do the tests. Nope, not this time. They took me immediately! And of course, my bladder wasn’t full enough. So I had to drink 2 bottles of water and then I had to wait until my bladder became full.

Then when I went in for the exam I thought my bladder was going to explode because the technician kept pressing on my stomach to get a better picture. Well, needless to say, I hope no one else has to ever go through this experience. I hope the test results come out positively…but in the meantime, do drink the water…it’s good for you. Just be careful if you go for a pelvic combined ultrasound.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Flirting with Disaster

After having an in-depth conversation with a friend at work, I realized that flirting is a very tricky thing. Sometimes it seems so obvious and other times, it could be construed in a completely harmless way.

Part of this discussion came up because we were disagreeing about someone’s flirting tactics (you can tell I have a lot of work to do, I’m sure). He clearly thought they were flirting whereas I thought they might just be innocent comments. The person in question was asking the other person a number of questions and she took that to be flirting. I took it to be natural curiosity because I know I ask people lots of questions. I don’t flirt with people in general….but when I do it’s very obvious to me.

So it brought me to the question of why does it seem like some people flirt with everything and everyone that moves, while others don’t seem to flirt at all?

In my relatively short time on this earth, I’ve noticed that certain groups of people flirt a lot more than others. Not really sure why except that it might be a cultural teaching. I find it incredibly annoying when I see it because it just comes on so strong and seems so false. It would be hard to tell when and if those people really are interested. At the same time, if they are flirting with everyone, then what does that suggest to the flirtee? Or is it that these people are being nice but they don’t know how strongly they are coming on?

Let’s investigate. If a person flirts with me and everyone else, how would I know that they were flirting with me, right? If a person flirts with only me, then I can guess that they are flirting with me and only me. Then if they flirt with me and only me, then I might follow through with the flirting if I feel like I want to pursue that. Is it me or does my method seem too straightforward and logical?

Here’s an example: This girl that I know bats her eyelashes at everyone, EVERYONE! Gender doesn’t matter at all. And she calls everyone sweetie. She often wonders why all these guys hit on her and why the guys she’s interested in never respond. She also has trouble figuring out why women are always yelling at her to not call them ‘sweetie’. She’s an example of an overly flirtatious person, who should probably only flirt with the men she’s interested in. But maybe I’m too practical. She’s obviously winning in some situations where the flirting with everyone comes in handy.

Maybe she’s thinking that flirting on a mass scale could be planting many seeds in hope that at least one person will respond. But people respond, it’s just not the people she wants to respond. I guess this is one of those topics that will forever make me ponder.

Monday, June 14, 2010

The Gag Gift

A couple of months ago a dear friend came to visit me in the city. During an early morning tv informercial bombardment campaign, she saw a plug for a product that really took anchor in her mind. She mentioned this product to me during our brunch and I was notably impressed by what it was claiming. We made a few jokes about this product and how some people could use it but I left it at that.

A few days later, I got an email from my friend telling me more about this product. I was a little surprised because I didn’t think that this product had made such an impression on my friend. But obviously it had! I took a look at the product’s website again and I could see the advantages of this product.

I left the idea of this product on the backburner until I realized that my friend’s birthday was soon approaching. ‘What do I get her?,” I kept thinking. Until finally one day the logical gift appeared in my brain! Get her the product from the informercial!

Hesitation surrounded me. I really wanted to get her a gift she would use but getting her this product could suggest a big pool of problems. Would it suggest that I thought she needed to lose weight? Would it be offensive to her? I ask around and in the pit of my stomach, I knew she’s get a laugh but my brain wasn’t so sure. I worried she would ‘de-friend’ me.

Luckily though, she loved the gift and laughed about it. I felt super happy that not only was it a funny gift but one with a little bit of thought behind it. It’s always fun to give gag gifts to your friends.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Not a Banner Month

May came and went. Not entirely sure how that happened...I'm not happy with my blog production in May...June doesn't look so hot either.

Need to get moving....will be more productive shortly.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Soft and Squishy

I went to a local food establishment today that was founded in England. They have fantastic posters of food and wonderful phrases under each of these pictures. I thoroughly enjoy going there because the food is fresh and because it reminds me of how different British English is from American English.

One of the posters has a picture of a cauliflower floret coiffed with some herbs and two eyes made out of olives and the sign says ‘Soft and Squidgy’. The picture is supposed to look like a lamb or a sheep on the fields. It makes me smile to see how the same concept and idea is stated almost the same way but spelled differently. We often say ‘squishy’ here in the States but our British counterparts say ‘squidgy’. I love it!

This made me think of some other fun ones that I recall from past stories or just from my hearing the differences in talking to people. The Brits often call their raincoats ‘mac(k)s’ as in a Macintosh. But Americans often think of their computers when we talk about ‘macs’. Or even a simple tool as an eraser is named a ‘rubber’ in UK. I’m sure whenever they say that to Americans; we chuckle because we think of it as meaning something else. (You know what we think; I’m not going to tell you)

Yes language is fluid and it can be fun but is language soft and squishy/squidgy? That I don’t know. You’ll have to let me know.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Weighing In

A rude awakening happened at the doctor’s office today. I stood on the scale to see that all the weight I thought I’d lost in the last couple of months had returned. How could this be?

I know that each scale is different. Different calibrations and such will result in fluctuations of a pound or two but ten!! How did that happen? I can’t be that bloated! Could my clothes really weight that much? Ugh!

It’s precisely this kind of self-doubt which makes me hesitant to step on the scale in the first place. I say let’s ban them all! Who is with me??

Monday, May 10, 2010

Going Bananas

Cirque de Soleil always entertains me. With the exception of one show, I have enjoyed them – of course some more than others. On Friday night, ‘Banana Shpeel’ was the most recent Cirque that I saw.

It has been credited as looking at vaudeville and taking a step in that direction. It was fun to see what vaudeville might have been like after this brief glimpse. As usual I was awestruck by a number of the traditional cirque acts – the contortionists and jugglers. Cringing a bit at the way people’s bodies can bend and turn - reminders that my body can barely get out of bed in the morning.

However my favorite part of this performance was the clowns. There are always clowns at the circus and at Cirque. Somehow they touched me as sillier than usual perhaps because they played a bigger part in this show than others in the past. A couple of the lines made me actually cry from the laughter. Always a good sign!

In addition I thought the dance numbers were pretty cool especially one in the dark. Tap dance infused many of the dance performances and I couldn’t have been happier. Tap is probably my favorite form of dance so I felt like I was being catered to.

We sat in the first row and I was scared of being called on but luckily I made it out alive. I recommend this show if you want a laugh and to spend some time doing something different.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Dismissal Observations

Whenever I see someone preparing to leave work for the day, I try not to bother them. The rush to get the heck out of work is a very powerful force. I know to stay away from them.

It’s pretty obvious to realize when someone is getting ready to leave work. Here are some of the signs:
1) They usually shut down or log off their computer.
2) They may pack their purse or shoulder bag.
3) If it’s appropriate weather, they may put on their coat or jacket.
4) Have a very fixed gaze towards the door
5) They might say ‘Well, I’m going home now. We can talk about it tomorrow.”
All very good signs of what is to come.

Lately, I’ve noticed that these signs don’t seem to be working for people I work with. I’m not one of those people who leave work at 5 o’clock on the dot. But darn it, when I do, I want to get the heck out of there. And I don’t want anything getting in my way.

But the past few times I’ve tried to leave at 5, people have come to my desk at 4:55 and begun to talk to me. I’ve explicitly stated “I’m leaving soon so can we talk about this tomorrow?” They don’t seem to care. Even as I’ve shut down my computer, packed my bag and push through them, they have continued their barrage of questions and comments. I’ve been really wondering why no one wants me to go home!

Hopefully others don’t feel as though they have to tackle people to get out of work everyday.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Whatever Happened to…

Lemony Snicket?

I know that it’s silly to miss an author who isn’t entirely real. But I do. A couple of years ago I waited and waited until a new Series of Unfortunate Events book would come out. Once they did, I would devour it! Each of the books in the series was a fun and fast read that got me more and more involved in the lives of Baudelaire children and their escapades and adventures in keeping away from Count Olaf.

Darn it, I just want to anticipate and wait for a series of books like that again. I even miss the Harry Potter series! I suppose what I miss is the excitement of waiting for a new book to come out but…that’s not it. I enjoy the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series but I often wait until I’ve finished the book I am currently reading in order to start those. When the Lemony Snicket or Harry Potter books came out, I’d put down everything!! Everything!! To read them!

I want to feel that way about books again - that insane need to have the book in my clutches as soon as possible. Any suggestions on a series of books that would make me feel that way again?

Friday, April 30, 2010

The Loophole

Over a month ago I was working on my willpower and determination to try not to eat any cakes, cookies, pastries, etc., for Lent. I was trying to sacrifice something that would be difficult in trying to emulate Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice.

I was proud of myself. I wasn’t tempted as badly as I thought I would be. And I made it through half of the Lenten period when a friend told me that the sacrificial period doesn’t include weekends. And that a priest even told her this information! I was so upset because I couldn’t believe there was such a loophole to a relatively good deed. Yes, I understand there are more than 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. But I thought it was supposed to make the time longer so that we had more time to stretch out the sacrifice. Nope, wrong again.

Well, regardless of finding out this information, I will continue to give up or do something helpful next year. It was a little disappointing is all.

A Good Sport

It’s amazing at times the things we do for other people. Mothers are often known to do extraordinary things (jumping in front of cars) to save their children. Some family members give their organs to other family members to help them live healthier lives. It’s really lovely to see these altruistic actions.

Recently a few other ladies and myself were bridesmaids for a friend of ours. It was an honor to be in her wedding party. We wore lovely strapless merlot-colored dresses. We walked in with men wearing kilts and it was fun. However, it was a really cold day to be wearing hardly any clothing!

But we do these things for our friends regardless of our better judgment. We are good sports for those we care about.

Rays

Grey clouds hover
Overhead
My bones are cold
From the rain
And the sadness
Thoughts rush through
Why do I need to
Continue
Why do I keep
Living like this
Weeks of misery
Tears fall for no reason
Steps are so heavy
My muscles refuse
To move any more
No more hope
No more happiness
Success only to see great
Mourning

I am lost
Don’t know where to go
What to do.
The hole in my heart
Grows bigger every day
I bathe it in alcohol
To cure the cut
But the sting
Is always there.
No one to share my feelings

Pretend to be great on the
Outside
When the interior feels horrible
I love the clown
I am the clown
Torrential downpours
It grows colder
I climb into the
Fetal position
Where I am safe.
Safe from what?
Those that love me are
Fading away
They tell me repeatedly
But I’m not listening.
I don’t hear.

“life is not easy. It takes
courage
to get up everyday.”

I push them all away.
Silence surrounds me
No kind faces
To be seen
I have brought this on myself
I pushed them all
Away.

The light comes through
The window
Finally sunshine
After so much darkness
Beams shine off
The golden spires
Doubling the light
Surrounding
The world outside
My little hermit
Hole.

Drinking doesn’t call to me
It doesn’t control me any more
Need to feel the
Warmth on my face.
A day of sunshine
Is all I need to know
After periods of darkness,
Now there is hope.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Old Blue Eyes

A couple of weeks ago the Mexican and I went to see the new Twyla Tharp musical inspired by Frank Sinatra’s music. I had such a great time. Seeing all the dancing happening on stage made me want to jump out of my seat and twirl and swing.

The musical showed the action between a few couples during one night in a club. The couples danced while Sinatra’s songs were piped through the theatre. It was infectious. The Mexican even wanted to learn how to play the trumpet.

My desire to see this was due to having seen one of Tharp’s other productions “Movin’ Out’ a few years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed that production because of the cleverness of the story being told through the music and dance. ‘Come Fly Away’ may not have touched me as much as ‘Movin’ Out’ probably because I feel more closely linked to Billy Joel’s music than Sinatra’s. But it did reawaken memories of my dad listening and singing to Old Blue Eyes when I was younger.

Even if you are younger than me, it’s worth getting familiar with Frank Sinatra through this medium. His music has stood the test of time and it is ubiquitous. I remembered some commercials and tv shows that used his music in my youth only to realize now that they were Sinatra’s pieces. It’s a fun show and for two hours a lesson in the dance and a mind frame of a different time.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Control Top

This entry is validating the old adage of ‘be careful what you wish for’. A couple of weeks ago in the entry ‘Motherly Advice’, I mentioned that I asked my mom to help me fix a dress I’m wearing for my friend’s wedding. Seeing that my mom was a seamstress for a long time, I figured she could help me out with this task. It would give her something to do.

But boy did I open a can of worms when I asked her to help me out. Since then my mom has been nagging me to wear a girdle or something to keep my flab in place. Every time I call her, she inserts one of the following comments:

“I can buy you a good girdle if you don’t have one.”
“A good girdle helps when all you do is sit all day.”
“The underwear you wear doesn’t hold you in like a good girdle.”

It’s really maddening. When I could ignore it before, now the constant barrage of control top pantyhose and a good girdle is slowing driving me insane. I’m convinced this is her way of getting even for all my years of rebelling. But honestly, there has to be a better road to insanity than via the good girdle tactic, don’t you think?

Nevertheless, I should have known better than to try to get my mom to help me. It always ends up being a long dramatic production. I’m sure in the past they didn’t involve a good girdle but they had their theme for that particular moment in time.

Secret Service

Just in time for the deadline I went to my local bank branch to put money into my IRA account yesterday. Yes, I know…last minute. But honestly I needed to make sure what I was saving had moved to the proper account so I could make the transfer. I went into the bank and dealt with the representative. He asked me to input my social security number into the keypad while he looked away.

The act of him looking away, as if to not see what I was punching into the keypad, struck me as ridiculous. Come on, I know that the minute I hit enter on that keypad, my social security number appeared on the screen. Maybe it was hidden or partially covered but still it was odd to me. It reminded me of those people who cover their eyes during horror movies but still peek through their fingers to see what is happening.

Just thought I’d mention that…maybe someone else has noticed this stuff and it’s made them chuckle as well.

Monday, March 29, 2010

At the Dog Run

Watching my dogs and other dogs in the dog run recently, I became convinced that life would be easier if we just acted like dogs more often. Yes, it’s my usual craziness but bear with me for a moment.

When dogs see each other, they can immediately let each other know they don’t like each other by growling. This is a super efficient if you ask me. No phoniness there. How much easier would my life be if I could just openly growl at people I don’t like and then just avoid them? Being polite sometimes really stinks. It’s so much simpler if we could be more open about how much we don’t like someone else without acting like grown ups and just dealing with them.

Dogs also sniff each other and see if they like each other’s scent. Once again, it works because given the small amount of time, they can figure out if they want to be friends with another dog fairly quickly. If we could just cut to the chase that way, we would save a lot of time. No, instead we hang out with people for at least a couple of hours or so before we decide if we like them. That is a lot of wasted time if you ask me.

The best time saving strategy of all is how dogs bark at one another when they sniff each other and decide they don’t like each other. They sniff, bark and then move away from each other. None of this “I’m not sure if I like you” or “It’s not you, it’s me” conversation to be had at all in dogville. Dogs are straightforward and practical and we should be that way too.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Motherly Advice

Yesterday I asked my mom to help me get fitted for a dress that I am going to wear for my friend’s wedding next month. My mom used to be a seamstress so I thought maybe she could even do the adjustments for me, which is why I asked her to come over.

She took a look at the dress and said ‘why don’t you just go naked to the wedding?’ because the dress is short and strapless. She proceeded to say that no matter what she did to bring in the top portion of the dress, my boobs would still hang out because the dress was strapless. She also mentioned that I should wear controlling underwear so that my flabby parts didn’t make me look deformed.

I love my mom because she is my mom. Normally this ranting would upset me but that’s just my mom. I can’t change her and I just laugh about what she says. Then I write it on my blog.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Literary Interpretation

In one of my first English classes in college, I was taught that everyone reads things very differently. Word choice and syntax could mean one thing to one reader but a completely different thing to another.

This made and makes complete sense to me. As much as I try to remember this there are times when I find it hard to believe that one person reads something that is so clearly going in one direction as the complete opposite.

Recently an email went out at work that very clearly expressed one sentiment. A number of people said that it was direct and to the point that one person was questioning another person’s decision. However, one solitary person read the email completely differently. They thought that the person was trying to say something else. No matter how many times we heard that persons comments and proof, we just couldn’t see how she read the email the way she did.

It dawned on me that this person who was arguing with us about our interpretation was actually not making a very good case because she didn’t add the important point that she would send out a note like this when she was frustrated. So clearly this person was thinking about what and how and when she would send out a note like this without looking at the intention and motives of the person who actually sent the letter.

Now, I’m not saying one way was better than another, I’m just saying that it’s important to see where people are coming from when they have an opinion. Sometimes it helps to interpret meaning and motives. Other times, it tells us more about the person who is interpreting that about the person who is writing.