My love affair with the idea of traveling abroad has been tarnished July 12, 2010

Summer Reading Update:

Last night I finished ‘Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven‘ by the great Susan Jane Gilman.  A great and yet terrifying story about traveling to Asia.  It is the true story of Susan’s travels with her college friend Claire.  They decide to travel around the world after finishing college, starting with Asia, specifically China.  When I started reading, I immediately thought to myself, “I sure wish Jane and I had done something like this right out of college.”  Then I read a couple more chapters and decided “Thank goodness that Jane and I never did anything like this right out of college.”  China sounds like a horrible place.  Of course one has to remember that the story takes place in 1986.  But still.  I am curious to know what life is like for people who live there, especially now in the era of the internet.  I wonder if they know they are being kept from reading things (see the Google drama).  Do they know that in other countries, one doesn’t immediately get scared when seeing soldiers or government officials?  Do they know that in some countries, no one reads your postcards and letters and decides if you get to send them?  Or do they just not miss what they’ve never had?  I don’t know.

I hate to give too many details about the book away.  I’ll just say that I hope Claire is happy, wherever she may be.  It’s a really great read and I highly recommend it.

Next up is ‘29‘ by Adena Halpern.

Sadie, Sadie, my little lady July 10, 2010

I’ve had a bit of writer’s block this past week.  So, I decided to simply write about my dog Sadie.

I adopted Sadie in December 2007.  I had lost my BFF (my dog Alice, not her real name – her story is for another post) in November, my grandma in October.  I was generally heartbroken and cried nonstop.  I decided to check out Petfinder.  I looked for little female dogs.  That’s where I saw her.  I emailed her foster mom and she told me all about her.  I decided to go see her at their Petco adoption event.  She was so cute.  Scared, though.  She wouldn’t let me pet her, but when she saw her foster mom, she ran up to her.  I took her to the back of the store where it was quiet.  “Sadie,” I said, “would you like to go home with me?”  She looked at me for a second, and then wagged her tail.  So that was that.  This is her on that first night.  She looks so tiny, and so tired, and her little paws were dirty.

She perked up by the next morning.  She has been my little pal ever since.

Sadie is a Parti-Pomeranian (that means white with spots).  She spent many years in a puppy mill having litter after litter.  She had never walked on grass until she got to rescue.  Some of her teeth are filed down, this happens because the dogs chew on their cages trying to get out.  She is shy and has no idea what a toy is or what to do with it.  She is scared of men (although now she is much, much better than she used to be) because surprisingly, most puppy mills are run by women, so these dogs have just never seen men before.

How it works in these places is that after the dog stops ‘producing’ as they wish, they get rid of the dogs.  The lucky ones end up in rescue.  Rescues make deals with the devil in order to save the ones they can.  They get the puppy mill owners to agree to call them when they are done with dogs.  They do this because the dogs that don’t end up in rescue are just killed.  They are deemed useless if  they are no longer having puppies.  So, Sadie was lucky.  The rescue people told me that they think that the puppy mill kept her longer than normal because of her spots.  They are unusual and therefore more ‘valuable’ I guess.

Sadie has some health issues.  Last year, she was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis.  I got this diagnosis finally after trip after trip to the vet for vomiting and/or diarrhea.  She would have incidents about once a month.  The last one was so bad, she ended up having to spend the night at the animal hospital where they ran all the tests, kept her on IV fluids, and gave her lots of medicine.   She is much better since then.  She is just on a special diet and can only have certain treats.  They don’t know why she has this.  Normal dogs can get it from something like going through your garbage and eating lots of fatty foods.  So, I wonder if the people at the puppy mill just fed these dogs scraps of whatever.

Her other health issue was diagnosed recently.  The night I got back from Nashville, she started coughing and coughing.  It scared me how she just wouldn’t stop, so off to the vet we went.  Turns out she has a collapsing trachea, which is common in small dogs.   So for that, I have to keep her from getting too excited, no walks in the heat, harness instead of collar.

I don’t mean to dwell on her health.  She is a happy girl and pretty healthy now that we have the pancreatitis under control.  She loves to cuddle with me on the couch while I watch TV.  She will roll over so I can rub her belly, and look up at me with her big brown eyes, and it is the greatest thing ever.  She loves me unconditionally and I love her so much.  She loves ear scratches and belly rubs.  She loves to go for walks and sniff everything.  She watches for me to come home at night.  I will pull in and see her in the window, standing on the bench in front of the window and wagging her tail when she sees me.  She lives now like the princess she was meant to be.  By the way, you saw how she looked on that scary first night at home.  This is her now:

I wonder how some people are not ‘dog people’.  Truly I don’t understand.  I guess they have never had a dog, never felt that love.  That is the great thing about dogs.  They really just love their people.  They want to make us happy.  All they want in return is some food, a bone, and some ear scratches.  Oh and your pillow to share.

Weekend in Review July 6, 2010

It was a nice, long 3 day weekend.  I accomplished a lot and yet hardly left the house.  I got the oil changed in the car, shopped, cleaned, vacuumed, did laundry….it’s exhausting to think about. 

Summer Reading Update:
I relaxed and finished ‘Eat Pray Love’.  I don’t want to give anything away for anyone who hasn’t read it so I won’t do a review, except to say I loved the Italy portion, LOVED the Indonesia portion at the end, and could have skipped India in the middle.  I am now interested in reading her newest book ‘Committed‘ about her decision to re-marry.

After that, I quickly read ‘Secrets of a Shoe Addict.’  It was entertaining and a quick read.  Perfect for a long weekend at home.  Though I’m not sure what shoes had to do with anything, except there is one character back from ‘Shoe Addicts Anonymous.’  It is about three women who live in the suburbs and run the PTA and run into trouble in Vegas where they have gone for some school even with their children (because nothing says Family Fun like Vegas).  All three suddenly need lots of cash and the Shoe Addict gets them into a business that will help.  Wackiness ensues.

Last night I started ‘Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven.’  I’m pretty excited about this one.  Susan Jane Gilman is one of my favorites.  And I think between this and ‘Eat Pray Love’, I will soon have the travel bug and start talking about spending a year trapsing through Europe.  How practical this is, I don’t know, but it always seemed to me to be something I should do before I have children.  The urge comes to me once every few months.  Maybe it’s time I just did it.

In movie news, I finally saw ‘Eclipse’!  It seems as though I am the last person to see it, even though it’s been out less than a week.  I went with my niece Lemondrop and her mom Starburst (not her real name).  I love that they are sticking close to the books.  The first movie didn’t have too  much to do with the book either than the characters, but since then they have stuck to the story.  I could write an entire post on the subject of Twilight and I probably will soon, but for now I will just say that whether or not you prefer Edward or Jacob (Edward, duh), there is enough of both in ‘Eclipse’ to keep both teams happy.

Now I am back to reality and work.  I have six full 5-day work weeks ahead of me before Smarty and I head to the east coast.  That seems impossible after my last three weeks of 4 days each.  Also today I start week 7 of my running program, which means running without a break.  Today, 26 minutes.

Mel Gibson is a ” f—— pig in heat” July 2, 2010

I’ve been following the Mel Gibson story the past two days in the same way that one can’t help but peek at a car accident.  In case you want the details, you can go to RadarOnline and read this.  It is full of insane cursing, insults, threats and his 8 month old baby crying in the background (so says Radar, obviously no one else has actually heard the tape).

Today, I read this article on The Daily Beast.  It is asking whether or not Mel’s career can recover from this.  They are comparing it to his infamous DUI arrest in 2006 when he proclaimed that Jews are “responsible for all the wars in the world” (hey Mel, does that include Jesus, the most famous Jew of all-time?  Just wondering since you are so ultra-religious) and called the female cop a most ridiculous name.  Here is a quote from the article that caught my eye and inspired me to write about this:

This seems to be the assumption, regardless of the fact that, as Ross Johnson, head of strategic communication at the PR firm PMK-BNC, put it: “He’s getting into the most emotionally and politically charged area that he can get into in American culture, which is the relationship and history between black people and white people in this country. He’s ratcheted this up a notch.”

Really?  That’s what he got from this?  It’s fascinating to me that people are turning this into a racial thing and ignoring the rest.  I mean, yes, obviously it is full of horrible racial slurs.  But it is almost like this Ross Johnson didn’t hear this part:  “I am going to come and burn the f–king house down… but you will blow me first.”  Or this:  ’Mel told Oksana she looked like a “f—ing pig in heat” who — because of her fashion sense — risked getting “raped by a pack of n—ers.” “It will be your fault,” Mel said.’

Isn’t this an incident of domestic abuse/violence, first and foremost?  Am I the only one taking it this way?  Doesn’t it sound very close to being OJ Simpson kind of crazy?  Is it now okay to mentally (and allegedly, physically) abuse the mother of your child, just as long as you don’t use the N-word?  Is it just easier to think that he is a racist and ignore the rest?  Have we suddenly regressed 20 years in the area of domestic violence awareness?  Did we learn nothing from those pictures of Nicole Brown Simpson and Rheanna, or Nicole and OJ’s 911 tape?

Mel apparently has a few movies lined up to be released in the next year.  Is anyone going to see them?  And if so, what does it say about our culture.  If Chris Brown remains a pariah (and rightfully so), shouldn’t Mel too forever be remembered for this?  I will be interested to see who in Hollywood is willing to work with Mel in the future, especially considering the supposed enlightened and liberal viewpoints of those in the industry.  Then again, many of them lined up to show support for Roman Polanski, a convicted child rapist.  So what do I know about their morality.  But it’s something to consider when deciding to whom you should give your $10 per movie.

Southern Hospitality July 1, 2010

Hello everyone!  I am back from my long weekend in the great city of Nashville, TN.  I’m a big fan of Nashville.  I’ve been several times and it’s always fun.  Great music, great shopping (please re-open soon, Opry Mills!), and great food.  This time, I went with my mom and aunt and we had a great girls’ weekend hitting all of the usual tourist traps.  We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame (there is a great exhibit about Hank Williams if you are interested), got our pictures taken on stage at the Ryman (just like Patsy Cline!), and shopped at all of those great tacky souvenir shops on Broadway.

On another day, we toured a couple of interesting homes.  The first was The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson.

What I learned about him is that he was in favor of both slavery and killing Native Americans, and against feminism.  So a great guy.  His wife Rachel is the interesting one.  She was the belle of Nashville society until it was discovered that when she married Andrew, she had neglected to actually annul her marriage to her former husband.  Small details!  But she had amazing taste in decor and the house is stunning.  You can also walk around Rachel’s garden which is beautiful.

By the way, Rachel died of a sudden heart attack, after she fell from grace and right before Andrew left to be inauguated in Washington.  One minute she was the most beloved woman in Tennessee, and the next, she was an outcast.  Sounds like a lot of modern day celebrities, don’t you think?

After that, we decided to make the trek to Hurricane Mills.

If you are unfamiliar, Hurricane Mills is the home of Loretta Lynn.  It is a plantation about 80 miles away from Nashville.  Actually it is a town. Loretta owns a town.  I would like to have my own town also.  But I digress.  The interesting thing about Hurricane Mills is that it is haunted.  If you get the chance, there is a documentary on the Travel Channel about this place that they show a lot around Halloween.  So anyway, we went looking for ghosts.  Okay, you might say most ghosts don’t come out during the day, but there are stories about tour groups seeing strange men on the staircase.  We were hopeful.  The town itself is beautiful.  There is a large creek across from the house and the house is just amazing.

This is exactly the kind of town I would buy if I were a worldwide country music star.  Without the ghosts, of course.  The tour starts at a replica of Loretta’s childhood home.  If you have seen the movie about her life, Coal Miner’s Daughter, you have seen this as it is the replica they built for the movie.

After that, they take you in a tour bus across the street to the house.  This is where our day took a turn.  You walk inside and check out her awesome straight-out-of-the-70s kitchen.  Then the living room, and walk to the foyer.  We got excited here because the foyer and stairs are featured in the Travel Channel show.  The guide showed us the two rooms there (I guess originally they were parlors but are now used as family rooms, kind of).  Then he says, ‘Okay, we’re going outside so you can take some pictures of the house.  There’s a great shot if you stand in front of that tree.’  So off we went to snap photos, thinking this was a temporary jaunt outside and then we would be going back inside and upstairs.  No.  We look over to see the tour guide back inside the bus.  Oh, okay.  Tour over apparently.  I cannot tell you how disappointing this was.  An 80 mile drive there, an 80 mile drive back to the hotel.  An entire afternoon wasted which could have been spent at the outlet mall!  $13 I’ll never get back.  Not to mention the gas money.  All to see four rooms in Loretta’s house.  My point here is to tell you to watch the documentary and skip the trip.

I was happy to get home to my Sadie and my Smarty.  But I do love to get away.  Next trip is to the east coast in August.

Bring your kid to work….Never June 24, 2010

I was just in the ladies room and in popped a little girl, around 10 years old.   Where did she come from?  Well probably she was a guest at the retirement party for C that everyone but my department was invited to (outcasts!). 

Kids in the workplace is a pet peeve of mine.  This is something that I had never experienced until I came to work here.  People bring their kids in all the time.  And I don’t mean the occasional spouse showing up with the kids for lunch.  I mean they just show up and hang out.  For hours.  I can’t count how many times a screaming 3 year old has come running by my office.  How many times I’ve listened to someone’s infant cry during work hours.  A couple of weeks ago, someone couldn’t get a babysitter, so she just brought her child to work all day.  No, we don’t have on-site day care.  No, we don’t work at a toy company or anything related to children.  Why do kids even want to come here?  I don’t even want to come here and they are paying me.

My mom and I were discussing kids the other day.  Specifically, how people who are parents now seem to never want to leave their kids.  On this day we were at a charity walk with literally 70,000 other people.  It was 95 degrees and very humid.  Basically your normal summer day in the midwest.  But in the midst of this, many small children and babies.  I’m not a parent or a doctor, but I can’t imagine this is the proper weather or conditions to bring your infants outside for hours.  I don’t even make Sadie take walks outside in this weather.  Plus, you’d think people would be worried that they would lose their kids in a crowd this size. 

So, why not just leave them at home?  Are babysitters that hard to come by?  It seems like when we were little, our moms would leave us with the grandparents for these kinds of occasions.  Or you know, our dads.  I was just talking to a co-worker about this.  She was trying to plan a girls weekend with some friends, but one refuses to leave her daughter, with her own husband.  Seriously?  This leads me to another pet peeve, which is when I hear women say that the father of their children is “babysitting.”  I don’t think it is babysitting if it is your own kids.  I’m pretty sure that’s just parenting.

Of course, I’m no expert.

In completely unrelated news….yesterday I got my sandals from GoJane.  The photos on their website did not do them justice.  They are so incredibly adorable and I have gotten many compliments on my silver sandals today.

I’ll be gone the next few days on a girls weekend to Music City, aka Nashville.  Flood waters do not scare us!  Happy weekend, everyone.

Summer Reading List – Update June 22, 2010

I went on a book buying spree this weekend.  I had a coupon for 40% off one item at Borders, so on Friday I picked up Jennifer Weiner’s ‘Best Friends Forever’ from my list.  Then I took a peek at the bargain section, which is usually dangerous territory for my budget.  On this day however, I found only one book but it was a good one.  So I am adding to my Summer Reading List:

Secrets of a Shoe Addict by Beth Harbison.  A couple of years ago, I read a fun book called Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth.  I loved it because as you may have guessed, I love shoes.  Sometime after, I saw ‘Secrets of a Shoe Addict’ in the bookstore.  I don’t know why I hadn’t picked it up, but I’m glad I waited because I ended up paying only $3.99.

On Saturday, I headed out to find a new printer for my computer.  Wouldn’t you know it, Barnes & Noble is right there.  So, I went in.  There I picked up Susan Jane Gilman’s ‘Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven.’  In their bargain section, I found something that I have been wanting for a long, long time.  So, adding to the list:

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris.  My love for the Sedaris family will be covered in a future post I’m sure, but for now I will just say that Amy Sedaris is cute and hilarious and I want to hang out with her and go to her parties. 

Also, while I was there, I saw that another of my favorite authors has a new book out.

29: A Novel by Adena Halpern.  I love her books.  The first one I read was Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown.  There she discussed the various articles of clothing that represent moments in her life.  After that came The Ten Best Days of My Life.  I love this book more than I can say.  It is about a 20-something girl and her dog who end up in heaven.  She is then given the assignment to come up with a list of the ten best days of her life (surprise!).  I have given this book as a gift many times.  You will laugh, you will sob, you will begin to wonder what your house in heaven is going to look like.  So, I was very excited to see that Adena has written a new book and I will be buying it as soon as possible.

In more book news, I read today that Amazon has dropped the price of the Kindle from $259 to $189.  My credit card is begging to come out and buy this.  However I will be strong and wait another couple of months to see if the price decreases even more.  Though I have to say, that will probably happen a week after I finally purchase a Kindle.  Like how the price of gas goes down the day after I fill up, every single time.

Eat Pray Love….Search June 21, 2010

Summer reading update: I finished ‘Eclipse’ on Saturday and started ‘Eat Pray Love’.  I am almost through the Italy portion of the book.  I just read a passage that got me thinking.  Liz and her friend are discussing words.  Meaning, the one word that describes a place or a person.  For example, they decide that the city of Rome’s word is ‘sex’.  New York’s word is ‘achieve’.  Liz’s friend then asks her, ‘What is your word?’  Which of course, immediately made me wonder what my word is.

I am finding myself relating to Liz on a very personal level.  I am the same age now that she was when she began her journey.  Its true that I’ve never been married.  Never bought a house.  Never went through a divorce.  However I have found myself sobbing in the middle of the night looking for answers to questions about my life that no one else can answer but me.  I have found myself begging God for an answer, just like her.  Then again, I think if everyone was honest, we could probably all admit to that.  Liz decides her word is perhaps ‘seek’.

So this brings me to my word.  The first words that came to mind – love, family, friend – are the kind of words that would be nice to claim.  But things are not so simple.  Life is not so neatly wrapped up in happy thoughts.  After some thinking, I realized that my word is ‘search’.

I am forever searching for something.  What exactly, I cannot say.  For a long, long time, I thought that if I could find real love, that would be enough to fulfill me.  Now, finally, I have that.  I have my Smarty – my best friend, the ying to my yang.  The one.  And that part of my life is full.  It brings me great happiness and comfort.  But still I search.

I believe that if I could find a life purpose, that may do it.  I went to college and then grad school and then the business world thinking that if I could be successful there, that would make me happy.  And maybe if I wasn’t in a job I hate, that might help.  But I don’t know.  Other people work there and seem to not be as miserable as I am.  So perhaps it is me and not the work.  That scares me.  I fear sometimes that I will never find my career.  That no job will make me happy.  My dream in life is to live in Key West, own a shop of some kind on Duvall Street and watch the sun set over Mallory Square every night with my Smarty.  Maybe I am searching when the answer is ‘Daisy, you’ve been talking about Key West for 10 years.  Just do it already’.  I don’t know.

Maybe I will feel like my search is over when one day I have a family.  I’m sure that will bring tremendous fulfillment.  But I also know that motherhood alone is not the answer.  I know too many women who seem to lose themselves completely when they become ‘mom’ and that terrifies me.  (I don’t want to end up like those people on ‘STFU Parents’.  Nor do I want to start wearing sweatpants in public.  Or mom jeans.)  I know myself well enough to know that that alone will not be enough for me.  I will always need some kind of work.

My other thought is that I am just overthinking all of this.  People live their lives everyday and I have to guess that the majority of them don’t have the answers either.  Maybe that is the point.  Once you find all the answers, is life then over?  Isn’t the search the interesting part?

Everything I need to know about life, I learned from watching Lifetime movies June 19, 2010

A few days ago, I commented on a blog entry about Lifetime movies.  It got me to thinking about a blog entry I wrote once on MySpace, back when people used MySpace.  I love Lifetime movies so, so much.  If it is snowing outside, super cold, raining, super hot, Saturday or Sunday, I am probably watching a movie marathon on Lifetime Movie Network.  So, here is my recycled post with a few things added.  Enjoy.

“Lifetime Movie Network….Your movie’s on”

Oh how I love Lifetime and all of it’s drama.  Mostly because it teaches you many life lessons, such as:

- Never move back to your hometown if you have been away for years.  All of your secrets will be revealed, and someone from your past will probably stalk you.

- Do not, under any circumstances, trust a stranger that has just moved into town.  Most likely he/she is a murderer, con artist, or harboring some horrible secret from their past.

- If you are a millionaire, DO NOT marry someone younger and more attractive.  They WILL kill you for the money.  Also…

- Your new hot trophy wife is having sex with your son.

- If your husband works many hours and takes business trips, he most likely has a second family in the next town.  The other wife is younger and prettier.

- Do not trust Cheryl Ladd.  She is a man-stealing sexpot.

- If you should ever find yourself kidnapped by the Indians, do not distress.  If you calm down, you will realize that you belong there, and that guy guarding you is probably your soul mate.

- When you filled out those papers for your mortgage, your identity was most likely stolen.

- The person who was convicted of murdering your loved one years ago is innocent, and the real killer is either a family member or the high school sweetheart you married.

- While doing any estate planning with your spouse, it’s always a good idea to discuss all possibilities.  For example, if one of you ends up in a persistant coma, how long before the other may begin dating?  Which brings me to…

- When you wake up from a 20 year coma, do not be surprised that your husband has moved on with your best friend.  Also, your child probably calls her mom.  Don’t they look happy in those vacation photos?

- If a man brings you flowers and is nice to your mother, he will most likely turn into a crazy, possessive stalker as soon as you marry him.  Unless…

- Your mom is Joanna Kerns, in which case, she is going to kill him because he isn’t good enough for you.

- Miracles happen on Christmas!  Dead people come back to life and the factory in town that is about to close will be saved when the evil, rich owners learn the true meaning of Christmas.

- Being a single mom at age 16 is easy!

- You should just accept that you were adopted.  No, your birth mother has no desire to meet you.  You just remind her of the jerk that left her knocked up.  She has another family now.  The only other possibility to explain why you don’t fit into your family is that….

- Well I’m sorry to inform you, but you were actually kidnapped as a baby or small child.  Yes, that is your face on the milk carton.  Your real family lives a block away.  Of course, there is one more possibility….

- The hospital switched you with another baby shortly after birth.  No one noticed.  Your real parents are either extremely rich or much poorer, depending on your luck.

- As we speak, your husband is planning to kill you for the insurance money.  Don’t worry, in about 20 years, that sly investigative reporter will find enough evidence to convict him.

- Are you newly married to the man of your dreams?  Yeah, you should know that your daughter and his son are already making out.  But they are really in love, so you’ll just have to deal with it.

Toaster Wars June 18, 2010

Put this in the category of ‘Behaviors I don’t understand’ – There is this lady that I work with, I’ll call her Jill.  Jill is nice enough, I guess.  Jill is in her sixties and has been here for like 30 years.  That alone is something I can’t understand.  Anyway, every morning I go to toast my blueberry bagel and almost every morning, Jill is there at the same time as me.  Not beating Jill to the toaster sucks and here is why and what I don’t understand.  Jill toasts her bagel every morning on the low setting on the toaster…2 on a scale of 1 to 8.  Then when it pops up, Jill complains about how untoasted her bagel is, and puts it back in the toaster.  This repeats 2 – 3 times.  Every morning.  Someone once asked her why she didn’t just set the toaster at a 3 or 4, and she said that was too high.  Someone please explain this.

I can’t understand this logic.  Then again, this is the same lady who still smokes even after her husband died of cancer, and still goes to tanning beds even after two bouts of skin cancer.  So clearly her logic is skewed.  And by the way, how about adding something in health care reform that prohibits insurance companies from having to pay out to people who get skin cancer twice and continue to go to tanning beds.  I mean, that just seems rather obvious to me.  Also, this is a lady who has something like five weeks of vacation a year, and does not use it.  On purpose.  She chooses to go to work more than she has to in a year.  Unbelievable.

I hate having to use the kitchen facilities in the morning.  I am not a morning person and I hate how everyone else seems to be in such a great mood before they have had their coffee.  They feel the need to make small talk.  What I really dislike are the Decaf People.  These are the people who voluntarily go without caffeine and are quite smug about it.  They are so much healthier and don’t need caffeine to wake them up.  Or, caffeine just makes them jittery!  Yes, that’s why you should drink it daily to let your body get used to it.  I mean honestly.

Also, there is another lady who makes herself like a five course breakfast.  She comes over and puts an egg in the microwave, toast in the toaster, cuts up some fruit, and then leaves it all to cook while she goes back to her desk.  Inevitably, I am the next person who happens to walk up to toast my bagel.  So, I have to wait for her to come back to retrieve her multi-course breakfast.  People tend to act like the kitchen at work is their kitchen at home.  They leave their food in the microwave, or leave their dirty dishes in the sink.  It’s weird.

In other news, I am finishing Week 4 of ’8 Weeks to Train for Your First 5K’ today.  I will be running 15 minutes/walk 1 minute, twice.  Yay me!