auntmonkey
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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "auntmonkey" journal:[<< Previous 10 entries]
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06:53 pm
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Treadmills, Bicycles, and Toilets - Oh My!
So hubby and I picked up a used treadmill today, primarily for the kid's use. That is assuming she can get her grades together enough this quarter so that we'll move forward with the sending her to Holland this summer thing (I probably haven't posted about that yet - but I will, someday, in my infinite spare time). Assuming the kid can get her grades together and pass this quarter, she will need to start seriously training for this summer, or else she'll find herself in a world of hurt during what should be an amazing trip. The challenge of her finding time to run outside at an hour that we as her parents would consider appropriate, however, makes having a treadmill a sensible option, as she can run after dark w/out us having to go with her, and without us having to worry about her safety. Hubby could stand to run with her, God knows, but he may or may not (we won't go into the "you'd have more energy to exercise if you exercised more" conundrum here). My knees will not stand to run with her, so I'm not an option as a chaperone.
But bringing home the treadmill resulted in a hilarious conversation between myself and hubby, a conversation which I found hilarious enough that I needed to post it, to share it with all of you. The conversation went something like this:
Me: So where are we going to put this?
Hubby: Probably in the office, where your bike usually goes.
Me: So where will my bike go?
Hubby: Well, it's fine in the garage right now.
Me: But it won't be later tonight when I need to get it ready to ride to work tomorrow morning.
Hubby: Well, your bike could go in Kid's room, since she's at her mother's this week...
Me: I guess we could put the bike in the kitchen, on the side in front of the radiator.
Hubby: But the toilet is there right now.
Me: Hm. True.
There is a very good explanation for the presence of the toilet in our kitchen, but taken even just a little bit out of context...well, you get the point. There is a toilet in my kitchen, and therefore perhaps not room for my bike. I just love remodeling...
Current Location: home
Current Mood:  amused
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11:14 am
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I love the internet...
I just sent my kid 2 emails w/ links to assignments that are showing as missing. I love that I can do that!!! (she hates it...) At least I didn't cc her teachers...though I did cc her dad.
Current Mood:  devious
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06:39 pm
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Gifts from my Dad...
My Dad left town the other day, heading back to Wisconsin after spending most of July & August out here, helping us "kids" w/ projects and generally spending some quality time (especially w/ his newest granddaughter, who will be 6 months old on Tuesday!). Before he left, he dropped off a couple of books for each of us - wilderness survival books. Seems there was a time in the late 1960's that he considered if it might be wise for him to "disappear" into the wilderness, the political climate being what it was.
My Dad was *never* a hippie. He was too old for that. His several-years-younger brother was a hippie - heck, he still is. But not my Dad. He's never been willing to discuss in anything more than vague terms his reasons for thinking it might be best if he just disappeared. But he has said that he had an area all picked out and had begun to gather some supplies he thought he might need, etc. He has never said what changed his mind - it may have been my mother, since they married in 1967 or 1968. I'm really not sure.
But he gave us these books, saying cryptic things like he's beginning again to think that disappearing might be a good idea at some point in the not-too-distant future due to the political climate in the United States, or that we may find ourselves in need of these survival skills right here at home in suburbia. My Dad is fairly certain that the world's oil supply will completely run out in our lifetimes (perhaps not his), and that the western economy will also collapse (perhaps not in connection with the oil shortage, but then again maybe), leaving Americans starving b/c we won't be able to get produce from Chile or California, and so few of us know how to grow our own food. Let alone the fact that the hybrid varieties of produce we eat now tend not to give seeds that will grow the next year, unlike heirloom varieties. America could end up a lot like it was a few hundred years ago, or worse - lawless, every-man-for-himself-and-to-heck-with-the-women-and-children. Yeah, these things could well happen, and they could happen in my lifetime. But the chances are pretty remote.
Nevertheless, being the good daughter I am, I have begun reading these wilderness survival books. One has a chapter called something like, "From Raising Sheep to Making Clothes," which is interesting to me b/c of my involvement with the SCA - it would be kinda cool to be able to raise my own sheep, sheer them, card the wool, spin it into thread, weave cloth, and make something out of it. Yeah, kinda cool, but where am *I* gonna raise sheep??? There's also a chapter about wheel-making, plus the usual stuff about wild foods, water supplies, and basic shelter-building, too.
Dad's heart is in the right place, at least. He just wants to feel that he has done what he can to help ensure his babies are safe and sound. But while my political leanings are generally pretty far to the left, and while I have been known to be friends with (and agree on many issues with) anarchists, I just can't see that there will be any need for me and my family to one day "disappear" in order to avoid some kind of political strife. Sure, the world may run out of oil, and that'll make getting food a bit more difficult, but I have a big yard and can plant a garden - I've been practicing my gardening on a small scale the last two summers, and I'm improving. My husband owns a rifle and knows how to shoot it (I haven't gotten up the guts to learn yet), and though I'm a vegetarian I would eat meat if he killed it and brought it home to sustain our family. But *come ON,* doesn't this all seem just a bit far-fetched?
I love my Dad, and I definitely know he loves me, and I guess that's what really matters.
Current Mood: loved
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03:52 pm
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Attn Sodapopnskii!
That Ani lyric you've mentioned to me a couple of times - the one we couldn't think of what song it was from?
I hold on hard to something
between my teeth when I sleep
And I wake up and my jaw aches
and the earth is full of earthquakes
Came up on my iPod (I just keep it on "shuffle songs" so I never know what's coming and I get to hear everything on it eventually - though for some reason it really seems to like playing the 2 Scorpions records I have on there...don't ask why I have 2 Scorpions records...)
anyway, it's "Tis of Thee" from Up Up Up Up Up Up - always been one of my favorites, and now it has even more personal meaning. Ani would be so proud, wouldn't she? Nah...she probably wouldn't care one bit.
Just thought I'd share, though.
:)
Current Location: work
Current Mood:  geeky
Current Music: Tis of Thee - Ani DiFranco
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12:44 pm
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) kathrynt
(here's hoping the link works...I suck at this stuff b/c I don't use it often enough)
http://kathrynt.livejournal.com/441880.html
a very logical and well-thought-out op-ed about the cough syrup thing (and other free-trade fun)</div>
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09:20 pm
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Don't drink the cough syrup!
(ironic advice, coming from me...)
On the bogus glycerine in the news of late, all I have to say is that I will never understand China. (thanks to solarbirdfor the pointer to the very good article)
Knowing what I know about international trade, it does make sense to me that none of the Trading Companies tested what was in the 46 barrels - they're Trading Companies, in business simply to facilitate trade of a whole lot of different stuff. I can even understand the changing of the documents along the way. Companies do that, in part to comply with international trade law - shipping documents have to show who is doing the shipping, and to my limited knowledge the documents don't really have room for intermediaries' information, so the only way to make the documents acceptable to the various international customs agencies is to replace the original shipper's information w/ the current shipper's information.
The problem lies with the factory that passed the contents of the barrels off as pharmaceutical glycerine to begin with. The fact that the Chinese government found no law broken by a factory not certified (or whatever the correct term is) to make pharmaceuticals, which was passing off its product *as* a pharmaceutical, is a problem as well. If the factory wasn't supposed to be making pharmaceuticals - and in reality they weren't making pharmaceuticals but antifreeze (and they're probably certified to make that) - but passed its non-pharmaceutical product off as a pharmaceutical, I'd say there's a law being broken there. But Chinese law is VERY different from American law, so I imagine it's possible that Chinese law just doesn't cover companies passing their products off as something they aren't. Perhaps not probable, but possible. China is a very different place from the United States. The fact that the Panamanian government agency that made the cough syrup didn't test the "glycerine" in the barrels - that's problematic as well. And yet I'm not sure I would expect them to test it, considering the documentation that came with it said it was 99.5% pure. I would bet that most government agencies charged with making medicines (and I would hope all the private pharmaceutical companies as well, but as we well know, private companies are much more difficult to police...) will definitely be testing each new batch of whatever chemicals they buy prior to use from now on. But recognize that this is kind of like expecting a person to test each bag of sugar she buys at the grocery store, to be sure it's really sugar, before using it in a batch of cookies. One expects that what is inside the package is what it says on the label, or on the documents that came with it as the case may be. It's a tough, many-layered problem, with no easy answers that don't include even more strict laws governing trade...which only makes trade more expensive...which makes the ways people get around those trade laws more attractive...which causes further problems... What is it in human nature that makes us always want to take the easy way out, make a quick buck, sell our souls for momentary power?
I used to dream - and honestly I still do - that someday humans will evolve to the point where we won't need laws or governments. I used to think of the society I dreamed of a "moral anarchy," or something like it. Of course the word "moral" is problematic, because everyone has different morals - but ultimately, I like to think that human beings have similar morals when we get down to the very basics. For example, I think that at the base of our souls, we all believe that killing is wrong - the problem comes when we justify doing something wrong in order to try to make a larger something good happen (war to make peace, that kind of thing). But if we could somehow find a way to stop justifying what we consider "smaller" wrongs in order to do what we consider "larger" good things, maybe we'd be on our way to real human morality.
I'm not talking about the right-wing Christian morality we're constantly bombarded with (and offended by...), but about some basic human morality that I believe lies deep in our souls from the beginning. One might even call it instinctive, but certainly the nurture of our families and communities have an effect on it as well. You see why this is a difficult thing to talk about. It gets to the whole question of human nature and why we can be so incredibly selfish. If only we could get past that selfishness, I think we could make real progress as a species. If we could get to that point, we wouldn't need laws passed down from somewhere "on high" - be it from government or even from God - because we would just know and do the right thing all the time.
Yes, I realize this is crazy talk - my "moral anarchy" utopia is never going to happen. At least not until everyone on earth thinks exactly as I think. Because of course what I think is perfect, and therefore to be emulated by all humankind. Right???
But sometimes it's nice to dream of a peaceful world, where people help each other and don't hurt each other. It's good to have dreams.
Current Mood:  pensive
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08:23 pm
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Spam for a Good Cause
Dear Friends and Family,
Having multiple sclerosis means that you may suddenly have blurry vision. Or that your memory will fail you for no apparent reason. Or that you may not always be able to walk, let alone ride a bike. The symptoms of MS are different, and devastating, for everyone. Every hour of every day, someone is diagnosed with MS. That's why I have once again registered for the MS Bike Tour, and why I'm asking you to support my fund raising efforts with a (US) tax-deductible donation.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is dedicated to ending the devastating effects of MS but they can't do it without our help. It's faster and easier than ever to support this cause that's so important to me. Simply click on the link at the bottom of this message. If you prefer, you can mail your contribution to me at the address listed below (yeah - as if I'd post my home address on the web...if you want it, you know how to contact me...), and I'll make sure it gets to the National MS Society (make checks payable to National MS Society).
Any amount, great or small (seriously!), helps to make a difference in the lives of people with MS. I appreciate your support and look forward to letting you know how I do.
Thanks so much for your help!
:)
P.S. If you would like more information about the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, how proceeds from the MS Bike Tour are used, or the other ways you can get involved in the fight against MS, please visit nationalmssociety.org. Click here to visit my personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=1792407&pg=personal&fr_id=2030&s_tafId=56930 Click here to view the team page for Raleigh America
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?team_id=1980&pg=team&fr_id=2030&s_tafId=56930
Current Mood: hopeful
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08:59 pm
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Long time no update
So it's been awhile since I did an update on here, and I thought (hoped) some of y'all might want to know what's been going on in my world. A whole heckuva lot, that's what. With the tiny amount of time I have before I must sleep tonight, I'll try to hit the highlights...
Victoria trip
For hubby's birthday I booked us a little weekend getaway to Victoria - we took the Victoria Clipper up at way-too-early-for-a-weekend Saturday the 14th, took a "wine tour" of the Cowichan valley, spent the night at the Hotel Grand Pacific (lovely place, I highly recommend it, though might suggest trying for a weekend when there isn't a girls' soccer tournament...they were nice, but they were everywhere...), bummed around Victoria Sunday, and took the Clipper home that evening. It was really cool. The wine tour was fun - it was highly interesting to watch how people loosened up as the afternoon went on and we all tasted more and more wine... Hubby was especially taken in by the cidery we visited - okay, so it wasn't a winery, but wow, they make some yummy cider up there! Grow the apples on-site and everything. The other favorite was the place where they made all the wines from berries grown on-site. Interesting tidbit there is that they are stopping making raspberry wines, because of global warming - they can't grow raspberries on-site anymore b/c of root rot that plagued the plants. Everyone on the tour spent lots of money at that place, because we all felt like they really needed our money! And the wine was good, too. I especially liked the blackberry wine.
So the drama
So Friday night before we left for Victoria, hubby had dropped the kid off w/ my mom - they were going to begin work on a skirt the kid wanted to make for the cruise we're going on this summer. My mom was also going to bring the kid home Sunday night, because the Clipper wasn't due back into Seattle until nearly 9pm, putting us home around 10pm. Kid had WASL's at school starting that Monday, so it was important she get a good night's sleep. So Friday, just when he was dropping her off, Kid realized she didn't have her house key. She'd need it for Sunday, so hubby came home and began rummaging in Kid's backpack for the key. We'd drop it off at my mom's Saturday morning on our way to catch the Clipper.
What hubby found in Kid's backpack was a lot more than her house key. He found a bunch of her ADHD medication, stashed in various pockets, which she had been carrying back and forth to school. In all, he found betwen 40 and 45 pills. Understand that Kid's meds are stimulants, and they are a controlled substance regulated by the DEA - her doctor can't prescribe more than a certain amount at a time, and he can't write the prescription for refills. Understand further that these meds were just loose in her backpack - they were not in the prescription bottle w/ her name, the med name, the doctor's name, etc. Some had been crushed from being carried around. Had a teacher at school caught her w/ these pills in her backpack like that, she would have been expelled, and she may have been arrested too. Schools have a Zero Tolerance policy for any kind of drug possession - and considering that plenty of kids will take those stimulants to get high (they crush them and snort them, etc. - so having some of them crushed in her backpack was even worse), there is no way they would have believed her if she said they were a prescription. Even so, kids aren't allowed to carry around prescription drugs - they have to be kept under lock and key in the school nurse's office. Thank God it was us that found them.
This discovery explained a lot about her behavior the previous several weeks - during which we would regularly ask her, "are you sure you took your pill this morning?" And she would always answer, "Yes." I remember her even saying something to the effect of, "I know better than to lie to you about something like that." Uh-huh. It explained why her grades were in the toilet - mainly due to not turning in assignments (many of which she had done, just had forgotten to turn in! so frustrating). It explained a whole heckuva lot. But I still thank God that she wasn't smart enough to not get caught. Thank God she's not that good of a liar.
Needless to say, Kid has been (and will continue to be) on some serious restriction at home because of this. The discovery put something of a damper on our Victoria weekend. But ultimately it was probably a good thing that she was w/ my mom that weekend and we were out of town. Gave us some time to cool off before we saw her again, which has made the whole healing process a lot more healthy for all of us. On the boat ride back to Seattle, we made a long list of things she was going to be restricted from doing, ways she could work off her debt to us (since money speaks to her, we decided to make her pay the retail price for the qty of meds we had to flush - $4.20 each, times 45 pills = $189.00), and some new rules that she has to live with until we feel like we can begin to trust her again. We watch her take her meds everyday now, we do daily backpack checks...she has basically no freedom and gets no privileges or treats. This morning she was lamenting that she'd like some of her freedom back, and I just said, "Yeah, it sucks, doesn't it?" Doing time in a juvenile detention center would have been worse...
New Job
I started a new job yesterday!!! After getting a measly 1.5% raise on my last review (following last year's piddly 2.5% raise), I realized that I had outgrown my position at the bike company. The reason for the tiny raise was that I was at the very top of the pay range the company had decided on for my position, and they were unwilling to re-classify the position to match the market pay range for that position and the growth I'd made in the last 2-1/2 years. I was told in no uncertain terms that there was no hope of future raises being any better, regardless of performance (all of which was noted as "Exceeds Expectations" or "Exceptional," with only one "Meets Expectations" essentially included b/c my boss was told he couldn't just mark the same thing on every area). There was no hope of taking on more responsibility, either, as the company wouldn't spend the money for licensing for some software tools that would be necessary if I was going to do more in the way of demand analysis, etc. I had hit the glass ceiling.
So I found a new job. As of yesterday, I now buy things or an IT supplier for small and mid-sized businesses. It's a much larger company, with a lot more room for growth over time if I perform well, so I think it's a good move. The atmosphere is definitely different - I was spoiled working for the bike company, because everyone was so health conscious. There were almost no smokers at the bike company, tons of people who were training for this or that athletic challenge, and very few people who were overweight or just didn't take care of themselves. My new company, there are a lot of smokers, a lot more people who are overweight - I suddenly feel like I'm the skinniest person there, which is weird for me - and just a lot more people who don't seem interested in taking care of themselves, eating well, etc. You could say the employees at the new place are more "typical" Americans than the bike company folks were. Working at the bike company, you couldn't really help but have all the healthy attitudes and practices rub off...at the new place, it'll be more of a challenge for me to continue with the Ornish diet stuff I've been working on implementing, training for the MS bike tour, etc. But I don't think it's impossible - it'll just take a little more work to keep myself motivated.
Ultimately I think this is a really good move for my career. I have more responsibility, which I was definitely ready for; there is more opportunity for me to move up as I grow; and of course, the pay is much more appropriate for the job description. The people are nice. The business is very fast-paced and high-energy. And maybe in a couple of years, having learned a bunch from this company, I can see about getting back into the bike industry, or at least back into the sports and recreation industry. That's what I'd really like to do - take what I learn from this job, and go back to a sports and rec type company in a position that is more appropriate for my knowledge and skills (with appropriate pay, of course). That's the dream right now, anyway - other than editing full time, of course.
Oof...9:48pm, past my bedtime...off to dream-land with me...
Current Mood: optimistic
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01:43 pm
[Link] | So I didn't get the job at the sports-rec industry's equivalent of the Borg. I had clicked the little "apply online" button on the Borg's website a couple of weeks ago when I saw a "Proofreader" position pop up. More than proofreading, honestly, but that's what they want to call it, so. It was a job doing full-time what I do on my own time in my current job - edit catalog and marketing copy. Yippee! And then they called me. Wonder of wonders, someone actually thought I might be qualified enough for an editing job that they called me when I submitted my resume! Had a phone interview friday the 9th. Aced it; she wanted me to come in for their "proofreading evaluation" the following Monday. Went in Monday and took the little eval, and that went pretty well too. (I didn't mark the second "page 37" because the page before the second 37 didn't have a page # (I did mark that, they all should've had #s), and the page after the second 37 was page 77 - so I figured I was looking at pages from multiple catalogs...nope. But that was really the only thing I missed.) But in the end they "pursued another candidate." I hate when they do that.
But Thursday, when I had gotten the news about the Borg position, I also got a call from someone at a company that makes sports balls - basketballs, baseballs, footballs, etc. - in Federal Way. For very nearly my current boss's old job - he came from that company to where we are now. Aced that brief phone interview as well, and they wanted me to come in Friday but that really wasn't good for me so we went with Monday morning. Keep in mind here, my current boss knows I'm looking - I told him about seeing the job at his old place - so I went ahead and told him they wanted me to come in, and gave him the names of the people I was supposed to be meeting. He didn't know them (and he's only been gone from there 2 years - they've had monster turnover since then, not a good sign), but was nice enough to email a couple of his friends who are still there to find out about the atmosphere and such. Not good vibes coming from those emails. The guy I was to interview with is thought by one of my boss's old friends to be an "arrogant s.o.b." Her words, not mine. I took a "wait and see" stance, and headed for the interview on Monday.
They would have to offer me a *lot* of money to work with the aforementioned arrogant s.o.b. He is. He really didn't seem that interested in anything I had to say in answer to his questions. At one point I actually caught him, eyes glazed over, staring at my chest while I spoke. And I don't have that much to be staring at! No, I don't think I want to hire that company as my employer. Discussing it with my boss when he arrived at work later Monday morning (I told him he had very little to worry about from that company - they're not going to steal me away), he postulated that if they offered me a bunch of money it might be worth it to go there for a year, and just keep looking while I'm there. No, I don't think I'd even do that. I might be underpaid (by about $6k) where I am, but at least it's a pleasant place to work. I'd rather stay where I am, making what I make, and continue looking for the *right* thing, than go to that other company and suffer with more money while I look for something else. And considering how little the interviewer seemed interested in what I had to say about my experience, etc., I kinda didn't figure I was in the running for the "final cut" anyway.
But then today, I got a call from the CFO at the ball company - their HR person is on vacation this week, so the CFO is filling in - and she's asking for my references. Huh. Guess I'm in the top however-many. Weird. However, now I don't even want that job, not unless they offer me way more than what they said the salary range was in their ad. So, I asked my boss if I could put him at the top of my references list. See, when talking w/ the arrogant s.o.b., I mentioned that my current boss actually used to work at the ball company. When I shared my boss's name, the arrogant s.o.b. shared with me that the owner of the company has some issues with my boss - seems to be mainly because he left, not because he was a jerk (since he's not). But the arrogant s.o.b. was kind enough to tell me he wouldn't hold it against me that I work for (and have learned most of what I know about purchasing from) my boss. Gee, thanks... So I figure if I really want to scare these people off, I should put my boss at the very top of my list of references. So I did. Guess we'll see what happens...
Current Location: work
Current Mood:  mischievous
Current Music: none, darnit...
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01:19 pm
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Seattle Tilth Edible Plant Sale - May 5-6
Okay, so I thought this happened a whole lot earlier in the year last year, but maybe it was just a cold-ish day.
Anyway, check out details about the Seattle Tilth Association at www.seattletilth.org. Here's hoping the linky-thing works.
Very cool little group that teaches about organic gardening and stuff. I was thrilled w/ the salad mix I bought at the sale last year - not so much w/ the broccoli (my mom got some of the same kind and she didn't like it either). I'd like to do some sugar-snap peas and maybe some green beans this year if they have them - tried both (carrots too) from seed last year, and while the beans did okay, the peas did not.
I'll probably be carpooling up w/ my mom and maybe a couple others - meeting my sister there since she lives in the city. Anyone else want to meet up? ( solarbird?)
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