5 Things

I haven't written up any stories for a while here. Things have gotten...busy.

We had a new roof put on. That was awesome and expensive and actually still requires some thought because now our house is sans gutters. The other day I noticed that there is a roofing nail that somehow landed just right and is poked right through one of the leaves of our rhododendron bush. I see the nail every time I get out of the car and it makes me wonder exactly how that happened - the nail falling so perfectly as to pierce the leaf and then sit in the bush in suspended animation - instead of falling to the ground. When I think of this I don't think about spending more money on gutters and that's probably good for my sanity.

I have been spending time at the gym. Yes, really. I think I started going back in June. While I haven't lost a single pound - I have gained a bit of knowledge. 1. Exercises keeps the anxiety at bay. 2. Starting slow was in fact the way for me to play the game. (Not once has a piece of gym equipment shut off while I was using it) 3. I actually work out harder when distracted by reading a book. 4. I still hate lifting weights due to the boring-ness of lifting weights and the need to count and pay attention while doing so.

Never in a million years did I think it possible, but I have started using Twitter at work. Of course, this required setting up a new account as my @drivedaily account was less than relevant to the world of insurance. Since then I've been trying to tweet on both - which seems excessive for me. How many Twitter accounts does one person need?

Why can I not find true love in a throw pillow?

One last thought- I am really liking that new show Glee. Why? Don't know. It should be something I loathe - with all the singing theater nerd kids - but I find myself hoping that I didn't miss it because I can't seem to remeber what day it comes on.

Today

Today is my birthday! I still approach my birthday with child-like enthusiasm, but each year I find it a little harder to pull it off. It helps to have a piece of cake, great friends and family and a wonderful husband to help celebrate.

Speaking of that wonderful husband... we have now been married to for FIVE years. Today is also our wedding anniversary. The past five years have been filled with a lot changes, a lot of fun and I am so thrilled to be able to say that I married my best friend - the love of my life - and all that stuff you think only happens to people in movies with happy endings.

And if that weren't cool enough, I feel like I have one more reason to celebrate. I've recently been asked to take on a new project at work. After talking about it for years, our leadership has finally decided to take the plunge and explore some social media avenues. A few weeks ago I was asked to put together a plan for a blog. After presenting my plan and some sample posts, I was given the Thumbs Up to start (and promptly commenced learning Wordpress and giving out twitter tutorials). It's been a little crazy for me trying to balance this new part of my job, but I can honestly say this is the most excited I have been about work in a while.

So that's what I'll be celebrating today over a few cups of espresso, a few surprises for my husband, and nice dinner in the North End.

Done!

People, I am DONE with bacon.

I decreed this last week on twitter, but seriously folks I am done.

Cake should never look like bacon.
Martini glasses should be made out of glass.
Vodka should be mixed with lemons.

Now I understand, bacon tastes good, it smells good, it conjures up memories of your mom frying it on Sunday mornings and all the rest. (Actually, it reminds me of camping - every camp site frying up it's own bacon and eggs and pancakes.) And yes, I know, I don't actually eat bacon anymore, but this does not preclude me from voicing what you all need to hear:

Bacon has jumped the shark!

(From @reneemca's lips to your ears, internet.)

*****
Related: other things I am DONE with:
Alice 'n' Chains
Smokers who throw cigarette butts on the ground
People who complain about completely irrelevant nonsense...oh wait

****UPDATE****
Upon posting this the very next thing in my feed reader was a recipe for, you guessed it,
Lentils with Bacon. People, Bacon is NOT sexy!

I sighed very loudly. The Husband asked what was wrong. I told him I had been a victim of the internet. He rolled his eyes.

Naked Chef as Village People

I wasn't going to post anything tonight. I had a little culinary project to attend to and didn't plan anything to write, however, I found something worth noting.

So please, if you have any love for the Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, you'll want to check out the promo he did for his new show "Jamie's Road Trip" where he plays ALL of the Village People.

via slashfood

My Teddy Kennedy Memory

It was on my 8th Grade field trip to Washington DC that I snapped this picture of Senator Kennedy. Like so many 8th grade classes before me, I sat on the steps of the US Capitol while he talked to my classmates. We were from Massachusetts and he made time for even the youngest of constituents. What he said that day...I have no idea. All I knew was that it was IMPORTANT that I had photographic evidence that I had met the man. That my Nana would be very happy about such things.

I'm not sure why I have kept this photo all these years. Is it partially based on the fact that I think The Nana would want me to? Yes. Is it because I want to hold on to a little piece of Kennedy lore? Perhaps.

Creepy Facebook People I Don't Know

So I have really started to dislike the way that Facebook suggests friends you may know by featuring someone on your home page.

Why does this bother me?

1. I rarely know anyone that they suggest
2. Even if you close that picture, they come back at some point
3. Sometimes the pictures are really creepy

This one chick, whom I have never met in my life, has been staring at me on the Facebook while I chat with my cousins and look at pictures of people's weddings for weeks. She is creepy and looks a bit evil. She may in fact be nice and lovely just not photogenic or she may be casting spells on me through the interwebs. No matter how many times I close her down...she reappears.

I wish that you could customize your FB homepage so the features you liked (and used) could be placed where you wanted them. I mean- I don't want to get into the ridiculous territory of barf-worthy pages with the music that is Myspace, but simply being able to move the modules around would be cool and then I could hide the creepy girl below the fold.

Rambutan

The husband and I saw the little basket of Rambutan at Idylewilde Farm on Sunday. Inspired by the Mighty Girl, Maggie Mason, and her Mighty Life List, I purchased this piece of exotic fruit just to try it. When I saw that these spiny little fruits were not only $.69, but also has sign with directions on how to eat them, I splurged. I told the husband it would be an adventure and then I wondered if Maggie Mason has eaten one of these yet. Turns out Rambutan was #35 on her quest to eat 1000 fruits.

The Rambutan looks weird with it's red spiny tentacles. It reminds me of a cactus, except the long things are sort soft.

It was easy to break into using my fingernail to break the rind and then it sort of just popped open revealing a strange white orb on one side. That strange white orb is the fruit, which is similar to lyche fruit, or a really big peeled grape. The flesh is firm and juicy and simply tastes fresh. There is no overwhelming sweetness or smell.

Inside the fruit is a seed that looks very much like an almond.

I wonder what number fruit Rambutan is for me. I'll have to count and report back. I think I'd like to eat 1000 fruits, too, as well as so many other things. I should add writing a Life List to my other list of things I should get around to doing.

Weekending

By far the neatest thing to happen this weekend was the 1/2 hour or so that it rained while the sun was shining. It happens like that maybe twice a year, and to me it is so cool. It allows you to see the world differently by changing the light. It's just one of those neat things I think I'll always love because it reminds me that our world is big and sometimes what seems very grand is really amazingly simple.

Street Law

This story, about a judge who has been taking the law into his own hands with regard to a certain Toyota Corolla, is just so...so...reminiscent of Worcester.

If you have ever lived in a New England city without the use of a parking spot, you know this dilemma well. Saying that parking is at a premium in most neighborhoods is an understatement, and when it snows it gets MUCH worse.

Parking spots are personal. I understand. Driving around looking for street parking is tiresome and loathsome and awful especially when it's super hot or snowing. Sometimes trying to find a spot where you won't be towed, ticketed, vandalized or stolen is so exhausting that you eventually give up and park on that corner you're not too keen on. If you're lucky enough to snag a spot, you don't just let it go after you've spent a few hours shoveling your car out from under the most recent nor'easter. (of course if everyone with a car just shoveled it wouldn't matter).

People take certain measures when trying to protect a spot on the street. Typically they start by finding some object and leaving it in the spot. Lawn chairs seem to work well, as do the faux-ficial orange cones, old computer monitors and garbage bins. Most people are too lazy to get out and move these items and therefore just continue driving aimlessly until the end of time looking for a spot. I will admit right now to never moving an item out of a spot, as I was always too afraid that a neighborhood spy would rat me out and I would become the victim of some wild yelling maniac.

Wild maniacs are people I typically try to avoid.

Other people take what I'll call the "I own the street approach". They believe that because their house is on that stretch of road, they are the only ones entitled to park there. We once had neighbors move in and post handwritten signs on the trees on the road explaining that they just bought this whole house, there was not any off street parking, and they were reserving the street for themselves by proclaiming "Parking for #32 Only". This basically got them laughed off of the road. I will admit to taking pleasure in parking there at every opportunity I got.

Then there are the people who believe that their longevity in the neighborhood somehow puts their name on the spot in front of there house. I once left on a Sunday morning to go get bagels. I returned, parked the car and headed inside to spend the day toiling away at writing some paper. A few HOURS later there was a knock on my door and a woman standing outside that I had never seen before. She asked if that was my black car. When I responded yes, she said I should move it now, as I was parked in her spot. When I refused, she got quite heated proclaiming her long time residency and the fact that she was at church as her right to that spot. When I tried to explain that it was a street spot, she had been gone for HOURS and anyone could park there, she started yelling at me. I believe I told her "where to go" and did not move my car for the rest of day on principle. Of course I avoided that spot in the future lest she let the air out my tires.

I Knew Google Reader was Good for Something

I jest, Google Reader is good for a lot. It is the ONLY thing that is not blocked from my work computer, making it not only good, but GREAT! Don't mess with my Google Reader.

Anyway, I came across this article today (and yes you will have to watch the short ad on the Washington Post to read it) that opens a great discussion about eating less meat. The article, entitled The Meat of the Problem, outlines the environmental impact of eating less meat.

The basic premise is this: the environmental impact and carbon creation of raising livestock for food is more detrimental than DRIVING, and yet telling people to consume less meat is HIGHLY unpopular. Therefore we tell people to drive less rather than change their eating habits. Of course, doctors tell people to change their eating habits all the time - but few people actually do.

This makes some sense. How are you supposed to connect conserving fossil fuels to the burger on the grill? It's sort of abstract and doesn't make a great bumper sticker. And yet, it also makes so MUCH sense. Why wouldn't people who are concerned enough about the environment to spend thousands of dollars on a hybrid, not want to know that they could have an even greater impact by cutting out the nightly animal protein for some beans? Didn't we learn that it's the small things that count back in the 1980's when Reduce Reuse Recycle became the mantra of school children everywhere?

From now on I may cite environmental impact as my standard reason, when people ask "Why don't you eat meat? How do you live without bacon?" (right before I feign a fainting spell from bacon withdrawal).

Most readers here know me personally, and therefore know that I haven't eaten meat in close to 11 years, and so you will know why this subject hits home for me. I sense your Bias Radar going off now, and that's Okay. The truth is that I have always felt that going vegetarian was a good decision for me, but might not be feasible for everyone. I have never once tried to convince anyone to give up meat entirely. I believe that being divisive and judgmental when it comes to food only gives people fodder to call you names and root themselves more strongly in their habits. I do always try to provide something delicious and vegetarian for people to try. My hope is that eventually people will start to realize that real food is real food with or without meat.

There are a lot of ways in which each of us impacts the environment daily- our water usage, our home construction, our commutes, our grocery bags, our recycle bins...the list is endless. Furthermore I realize that a vegetarian diet that includes eggs and dairy certainly doesn't go as far as a vegan diet would in reducing carbon emissions. However, I would love to see these studies on the nightly news instead of research on how texting while driving is dangerous and whether or not red wine is good for you this week.

One of Those Days

Sometimes I could just chew glass. I hate that! That feeling of being so worked up about something that you just feel like screaming, or smashing something...like your car into the next jackass that cuts you off, but you don't do things like that because your motto is "have fun safely". (sigh)

I hate feeling like that. I'm happy to say that today I left the office feeling that way, but somehow managed to drive to the gym and work off a bit of that frustration before coming home. Personal growth? Maybe so.

ThreeThings

I do not want to contemplate roofing estimates. In fact, I do not want to do this task so much, that I am using the folder of roofing info (which I should actually read) as a laptop desk.

I have been wondering all summer if anyone has come up with a great device with which to carry easily bruised stone fruits with them to work. You know, without all the bruising, bashing and general horror of finding you afternoon snack, shoved in the bottom of a bag looking like the loser (or maybe the winner?) of a mixed martial arts fight. Bubble wrap perhaps?

I am really interested in knowing who keeps leaving chicken carcasses at the corner of Blaine and Carter Street. And while Tuckertino and Briggs have confessed their undying devotion to whomever keeps leaving chicken bones on the sidewalk, I feel differently, what with chicken bones not being a great supplement to their diet. Murph tried to tell me that he was the one leaving the bones in the road. He claims to buy a weekly bucket of KFC and hang out on this corner (of a residential neighborhood) and secretly eat chicken and throw the bones on the ground. And while I was suspcious of his story, what with the VEGANISM and all, I bought it until I saw how grossed out he was by the the act of prying 1/2 a chicken from Briggs mouth today. Whom ever is doing this, please stop. Please!

Four Notes From the Last Month

Been experiencing difficulty making a decision. Make that SEVERE difficulty. Do I really want to go back to school? Or do I merely just want to do something else? Round and round I go with this commitment-phobic ridiculousness.

Found out that volunteering is difficult when you work full time. Why is it that volunteers are only welcome during normal working hours? Didn't President Obama tell everyone to get out there and get their service project on? Perhaps you need an ivy league degree to walk dogs or shelve books, which is why the president has no problem getting a volunteer position. I, on theother hand, only went to state school.

Figured out why we don't have more farmer's markets in central Massachusetts. I'm always reading blogs and articles about these magical places that people go on Saturdays called the Farmer's Market. Where they get to sample fruit and cheese and have nice chats with their local growers. They then buy a 100 pounds of food for approximately $.82 and come home to make a feast of organic beets and artisan bread with fresh goat cheese. I have even been to a few of these magical places while on vacation, but there are just really none to be had near our home. And I have been jealous of all those who get to have a weekly farmer's market experience. Sometimes, I just can't shake the feeling that I'm missing out on some sort of important part of the culinary experience. (Which perhaps I am- but not for this reason). I have found the answer: we have the actual FARMS. It occurred to me one day as I was driving past yet another old family farm, big white barn in the back, horses in the pasture across the street, fields of corn budding down the road, that "oh right, I live with the farms...DUH". Fortunaley I also live within 4 miles of a Target and an Old Navy as well.

My youngest brother has graduated high school. A proper way to describe this is "HOLY SHIT, that came up fast!" I must be getting older. I am 10 years older than my brother, and the fact that he has now graduated high school and attended his graduation party with his (pseudo-girlfriend and her very adorable chubby-cheeked BABY) drew attention to the fact that he is now entering adulthood and well...yikes! Really, I am just so happy that he got through the last four years and finished his program, and is still the awesome funny kid who looked at me when he was 4 and said "you know, I'm not a big boy yet, but I'm not a baby either". He still needs to find his people though. I have every confidence that he will (and probably before I do).

pulling self up by bootstraps

Right, I have no where else to go with this, so I am landing here.

Just read something and my heart sank. Really. I'm pretty sure if you had watched me read this piece of trivia on the internet you would have seen my head drop, my face go pale and my shoulders slump. And after the conversations I had to have today it's just not really very timely.

I'm home alone, so there is no one to explain this to - and what I read isn't really that important anyway. So, it's time to let it go. Wonder if I can get to that stage of personal growth?

Probably not tonight. So I may just have a glass of wine and watch an episode of Big Love.

But watch out world. I'm standing tall tomorrow.

weekend pickup

Chicken Suit Domo! You may be interested to know that I also have a hamster plushy that is dressed in a chicken suit. One more and I'll have a collection. I wonder if anyone else collects plushies dressed in chicken suits? I'm holding out for an ugly doll. I should sketch one up and send it over.

working all night

So yesterday I came home from work, walked the dogs, went to my acupuncture appointment and when I got home I felt a surge of energy. Perhaps it was the nap-time I get on the acupuncturist table, but I felt like going through my feed reader and catching up. I have been a bit lax since returning from vacation land.

So I then spent the next 2 hours reading blogs and articles and watching several videos at garyvaynerchuk.com and then I decided I should check out the new tv show venture he's started, Obsessed. So of course I watched the show where Sam interviews Lisa Stone of BlogHer. And I find this all wicked interesting when she's talking about new media and journalism and being an entropeanuer and damn it, I liked her when she spoke at the BlogHer Boston event back in October. So I was all fired up and thinking of all the cool things I could do or should do with my life when I noticed it was 10pm...and the Husband and I went to bed.

Why did we go to bed? Because it was bed time. Because we get up early (him earlier than me usually) to do the stuff that is required of us to pay the mortgage and buy the dog food and be responsible ect ect.

I won't lie, I had a hard time falling asleep, but unlike last week, I was actually able to get to dream land. Of course in dream land my subconscious was still playing Gary Vaynerchuck videos. I kept dreaming of business meetings and these little pearls of wizdom and these awesomely huge ideas and then I would wake up, realize my arm (or some important other apppendage) was asleep and roll over, heart pounding, groggy and disgruntled. I must have woken up 5 times.

The problem is this: it seems I worked all night and I have shit to show for it. I can't remember a single one of theses great ideas or pearls of wizdom dropped on me by the dream Gary.

So tonight I am going to watch a and episode of Big Love and attempt to shut my brain off before trying to slumber. I kindly say to Gary V, "Dude, stay out of my dreams - I'm trying to sleep here".

Gone but Not Forgotten

I may have gone shoe shopping at lunch today. Okay. I most certainly did go shoe shopping at lunch today, but in my defense it is because I had worn my pair of clogs down to nothing. The sole was coming off and the buckle was broken on the right shoe. It was time to move on. I know my taste in everyday shoe wear would never pass the "Stacey & Clinton" test, but it works for me. I was happy with my purchases, but started thinking back to great shoes of the past and other items I may have discarded hastily in the name of simplicity.

There are two items in particular that I would really like to magically unhinge themselves from the innermost corner racks of the Salvation Army where they probably lay and come back home to my closet.

Item One: the little black skirt. I bought this skirt from TJ Maxx when I was about 16. It was the perfect back skirt for dressing up or down. It was a tad short, but perfectly work-appropriate when paired with black tights and a sweater. It was equally great for wearing out in the summer with a t-shirt. It was a Cotton Lycra blend which meant that it always fit no matter what and all one had to do to get it back in shape was to throw it in the dryer. It had buttons down the front in a sailor pant style. This skirt had everything going for it, but like so many women before me, when the style pendulum swung to long lines, I tossed the short black skirt out with the bathwater.

Item Two: gray maryjane platform shoes. These shoes, purchased from the Greendale Mall my sophomore year of college, were the prefect accompaniment for the aforementioned skirt, black pants, long skirts and pretty much anything. I know you are wondering how or why I would need a pair of platforms at 5'8", but trust me when I tell you that I should have been two inches taller and these made all the difference. I was in love with these shoes, medium gray flannel, rubber sole, with the cute maryjane strap/buckle. They would look perfect with the black footless leggings I recently bought at Steinmart, but I let them go long ago and have found nothing similar since.

I generally do a total closet overhaul every 6 months and rid myself of items that I don't wear (not in style), shouldn't wear (ugly) or can't wear (ill fitting/ripped or otherwise maimed) and typically I can't even recall what I discard, but these items haunt me still.

Story Time

This story is great- totally worth reading.
People standing up for other people, and telling the crazies where to go!

And I should add....Happy Thanksgiving

I was just tweeting about my thankfulness...for great family, good food, apple pie for breakfast, and long weekends...I should probably add that I am thankful for the husband, our great life together, and the wonderful friends we have.

It's a good life.

Back on Track...or Something

Wow! I was able to pass the Life & Health Insurance test last week. Thanks to all for the PMA and congratulations. I am most appreciative.

I was trying to figure out why I was so nervous about taking that exam. My conclusion, it has something to do with the experience I had taking my very first insurance exam….and a really ugly picture of me.

About 5 years ago I decided to take the P&C exam. Well, I realized that if I wanted to move up from the underworld of data entry, I needed to become a licensed insurance professional.

I signed up for the review class, got the giant book and I read it every night. When I say giant book, I mean 2 1/2 inch thick paper manual that is crammed full of every bit of knowledge one would need to know for said test. It even tells you right in the front cover, something like "This book contains everything you need to know for the test. There is minimal extemporaneous material". Which I would later learn means "know it all...or else".

Then I took the review class. This is a two-day adventure where an instructor reads the book to you and 50 of your closest friends and explains the innermost details of insurance rules and laws and details the difference between sexy words like peril, hazard, and indemnity. I then scheduled my exam and got to reading the test-taking rules. Fresh out of undergrad and still enrolled in graduate school I figured I had a leg up. I was used to studying and taking exams. I figured, it would be no problem to be sent into a dark room to sit at one of those crappy orange computer terminals and answer multiple choice questions for 3 hours.

I think you know where I'm going with this. The first time I took that P&C exam I failed. FAIL. See, the previous years of my education had been spent getting the "big picture", reading and interpreting literature, making inferences out of the news and using facts to create and write my own opinions on such topics as media bias, advertising in the post-war era, and this emerging media trend which would eventually become Web 2.0. My brain had been co-opted by a "Northeast liberal-arts education" and I was no match for a 4 part multiple choice test. I failed by something like 3 points in both Massachusetts Law sections. I was devastated.

The devastation stemmed from two distinct areas in my heart. Firstly, I loathe to do anything wrong, EVER. I believe they call that fear of failure or perfectionism or maybe just plain old Northeast snobbery. The second was the part of me that under no circumstances wanted to study, think about, or even look at that insurance manual ever again. In fact I had been told that the manual was ONLY for the test and was not suitable reference material for the office environment. I was looking forward to hoisting the book over the wall of the dumpster out back.

However, I had FAILED which meant more studying. I re-took the super fun review class, and started doing nightly practice tests. I would go on to memorize more useless knowledge than I ever had before. Approximately 3 weeks later I walked back into that creepy dark room lit by the glow of the orange computer terminals and kicked that exams ass. Well, I passed. After you got the big PASS you didn't get a point break down, just a piece of paper that said PASS! It’s good enough, but I’ll never know if I passed by 3 points or 30.

When I decided to take the Life Insurance exam about 6 weeks ago I started down the same path with a giant book to learn. It all felt eerily similar to me, despite passing a whole bunch of insurance exams since that first fateful FAIL. As the date of the exam approached I was increasingly nervous about the material. Increasingly worried about the prospect of failure.

In that last week I made time for little else besides studying. The husband was kind enough to walk the dogs and make himself dinner while I read about annuities and medicare. In my quest for uncertainty avoidance I had read all the test-taking rules. I had my photo ID, my calculator and nothing else with me when I walked into the testing office. The woman there said she was going to take my photo to verify that it was actually me, but never said "say cheese". She chatted with me for a minute and then sat me down at my assigned computer station in the test room. No more orange computer terminals. The proctor hit a few keys and said "Okay, you are all set". She walked away. I looked up at the screen and was met with this:

The clock was already counting down (1:59:32) and all I could think about was “why is ugly me watching me take this test”. I hoped it wasn’t an omen for ugly results. Fortunately, it wasn't, and I learned that I should probably smile more, even when I'm stressed out.

Now onto other things like our office move, Thanksgiving, and high school reunions.

ignored

I have been ignoring this space for the past week, but only because I have been focusing all my energy on studying for this damn life insurance test that I will be taking tomorrow- oh and that trip to Maine we took last weekend.

And if I fail said test...just cry for me. I won't have time to weep. I'll have to get right back to reading the giant book.