1.31.2007

food or lewd?

So I read an article the other day on MSNBC’s web site about mother’s breast feeding in public. Is it ok or not?

I couldn’t help, but giggle a bit when I read the first two lines of the story. But after reading the whole thing it had me thinking. Unfortunately or fortunately, I haven’t encountered a mother breast-feeding her baby in public, but I can say for sure I would feel uncomfortable.

We live in this society where we are told to cover ourselves up, etc. We also live in this society where anyone can sued for sexual harassment, stalking, etc. While I understand “breast-feeding” can be good for a baby, it’s not an excuse to do it in public. When it’s feeding time, a woman should go into the restroom, lounge area or somewhere private and do it there. I just think it is totally inappropriate to whip out the nipple in the mall, pool or restaurant and start breast-feeding.

In this article an expert is quoted as saying society doesn’t recognize the functional use of breasts. It only recognizes the sexual aspect. That may be true, but our society is not as pure as we would all like it to be. What if a woman is breast feeding in public and a man just starts staring at her? I can see it coming right now. She gets freaked out (which she has every right to do) and calls security or whatever. What if another kid sees the nursing mom and ask, “What is she doing?” Maybe that parent doesn’t want to have that conversation just yet with their kid.

The one thing I can understand is breast-feeding in public if you have to. According to the article, a woman was asked to leave a flight because she wouldn’t cover up while breast-feeding. An airplane bathroom is small so I can understand breast-feeding in that situation – if she couldn’t do it before or after the flight. The woman should also do her best to cover up her breast as much as she can. But in any other situation I say no breast-feeding. This society isn’t ready for that and pushing it will only make it worse.

1.30.2007

its freezing

It’s freezing! I hate cold weather. I have just about had enough of it. We live in Texas. It’s not supposed to be 40 degrees outside. It took me two hours to warm up yesterday after I got home. I expect it will take me the same amount of time today. But that would be because there is no heat at work. The geniuses that built our building decided since there are 5,000 people in the building and equipment all of that would generate heat. Well, maybe if it was 60 degrees, but it’s been cold like this for more than two weeks now. And the weather people said it’s going to be cold for another two weeks (for whatever that means, since they can’t predict anything right these days).

1.22.2007

attack of the village idiots

I have never considered myself a genius or even smart, but I am starting to wonder. Is it just some really dumb people out there or am I really that smart?

For the past two weeks I have felt like I have been attacked by the village idiots. I don’t have much patience and right now I am at the end of my rope. So I’m just going to highlight some incidents that have occurred in the past week:

Incident #1
I am in a meeting where product is being shown by an employee. Well the employee decides to put four items on one page and one item on three different pages. An items takes up one row on an excel sheet. She said she didn’t think about putting them all on page. My co-workers and I had to try our hardest to not laugh. You think she killed enough trees?

Incident #2
I’ve been working on this group project with four people. Two of us live north (one of which is me). Two of us live south. We meet south for the first two times. One of the members who lives south said she feels bad because the two that live north has to drive so far all the time. I suggest meeting in the middle. Nevertheless the two that live south takes it upon themselves to plan a meeting even further south than the original location. Not to mention at a restaurant where they hoped wouldn’t be too noisy at noon. You do the math. (I won’t go any further into that story because it gets a lot worse.)

Incident #3
I’m working on a page that is two steps away from being done (the deadline is three days away). An employee finally realizes one of the items is missing. That is only after she has seen it two times.

I’m going to stop there. I could give you about 5 more other incidents dealing with some dumb a** people. They make me look like a genius. Fortunately, I have been blessed with friends who are nothing like this. I never considered all of them to be really smart but right now I’m thinking we must be some of the smartest people on this earth. The older I get, the more I realize there are a lot of people missing some common sense in this world. And some people wonder why I can be an introvert. I just might have to find me a job where I interact with less people.

I need a vacation NOW!

1.14.2007

most embarrassing moment yet

Just when I thought there could be nothing that would top my most embarrassing moment another one occurs. One of my friends found my panties under the seat in my car. Only this kind of stuff happens to me.

Perhaps this never would have happened if I wasn’t tipsy. That'll teach me to not drink so much. Well, I sometimes keep liquor or wine coolers in my car, (Hey, you never know when you might need a drink) and my friend decided to go ravaging to find some even though I told him I didn’t have any in my car at the time. But I wish I would have. Instead he found something worse – panties. My friend and I are close, but not that close. I would have rather him find liquor. But no there were panties.

I didn’t even remember they were back there. And just to clarify for those who are wondering; they didn’t get back there from doing any hanky panky. I was changing in my car a long time ago and obviously I forgot to take the panties out.

There is one good thing in all of this. I am proud they were Victoria’s Secret panties and not some cheap looking ones. (I knew having all VS panties would pay off someday.) They weren’t the sexy ones but they were cute. In fact, they really weren’t panties. They were the striped knit boxsies from the Victoria’s Secret Pink line. I just had to clarify to him that they were boxers and not just some big granny panties.

I have a feeling I will never live this down.

1.09.2007

Is this really me?

I took this Strengthfinders personality test for my class. It is supposed to identify your five strengths. So for those of you who have been trying to understand me for years, perhaps this will shed some light. I am characterized by these five themes: learner, competition, focus, analytical and achiever.

Learner (hence the graduate courses)
It says this: You love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences, but whatever the subject, you will always be drawn to the process of learning. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence.

Okay, I agree with that. I do like reading especially the news because I always want to know more.

Competition
When you look at the world, you are instinctively aware of other people's performance. Their performance is the ultimate yardstick. No matter how hard you tried, no matter how worthy your intentions, if you reached your goal but did not outperform your peers, the achievement feels hollow. Like all competitors, you need other people. You need to compare. If you can compare, you can compete, and if you can compete, you can win. And when you win, there is no feeling quite like it. You particularly like contests where you know you have the inside track to be the winner. Although you are gracious to your fellow competitors and even stoic in defeat, you don't compete for the fun of competing. You compete to win.

Yes, so it’s true. I love competition and to be challenged. It pushes me to do more. And of course I want to win. Who doesn’t? I’m just more competitive in the career field, like trying to get a raise or a promotion because I’m good at working. Okay and maybe I am competing to try and get a higher grade than everyone else in this class, lol.

Focus
"Where am I headed?" you ask yourself. You ask this question every day. Guided by this theme of Focus, you need a clear destination. Lacking one, your life and your work can quickly become frustrating. And so each year, each month, and even each week you set goals. These goals then serve as your compass, helping you determine priorities and make the necessary corrections to get back on course. In the end, then, your Focus forces you to be efficient. Naturally, the flip side of this is that it causes you to become impatient with delays, obstacles, and even tangents, no matter how intriguing they appear to be.

So I admit it. I am one of those freaks who makes schedules and set goals. I do have a secret list of things I want to do before I die. I just make sure I hide it all so I seem spontaneous (if only I could be, lol). I like making a to-do list.

Analytical
Your Analytical theme challenges other people: "Prove it. Show me why what you are claiming is true." In the face of this kind of questioning some will find that their brilliant theories wither and die. For you, this is precisely the point. You do not necessarily want to destroy other people's ideas, but you do insist that their theories be sound.

I didn’t really see this one. But maybe perhaps it comes out in me on the reporter side. I do ask a lot of questions. And I am really nosey and always want to know things, even if it has nothing to do with me. So what if curiosity killed the cat? I just want to know why? I am stubborn at times and relentless.

Achiever
Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive. Achiever describes a constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. And by "every day" you mean every single day-workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning inside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more.

I believe it. I feel like life I would be worthless if I didn’t achieve anything. I think achievements show how successful you are in your life. And of course I want to be the most successful because I'm competitive (as mentioned earlier). On the other hand, it’s hard to take vacations. I love to work. I always think about work and I like doing it. I get this warm fuzzy feeling when I get something done. It’s like eating dessert.

1.08.2007

What have I gotten myself into?

I don’t think I had ever been so overwhelmed as I had been after class on Saturday. Six weeks – well in this case five weeks to complete a course. Three in-class dates and I do everything else online.

I have two papers due the next class which is in two weeks. I have a group paper and a group presentation due the third class which is in four weeks. Pretty quick huh? So of course in order to write the papers I have to do the readings first.

Yeah, I was a little high strung after class. I started immediately after my 9 to 5 p.m. class on Saturday, despite the fact I had already read 90 pages before the class even began. Well that was after I went to go buy another book and a bottle of alcohol to go along with it.

After reading for about an hour, I went out to eat and drink. Luckily the alcohol calmed me down a bit. Came home and studied until 1 a.m., but couldn’t go to sleep until 2 a.m. I woke up early the next morning. I skipped church to read more. That was my entire weekend. I don’t think I’ve ever studied so much in my entire life.

Now that it’s Monday and I already have half of my reading done and an entire paper, I’m finally okay. That is mostly due to the fact I had nothing to do at work today so I did school work. But all and all, I guess the work load is reasonable. After all, if I don’t take the summer off I’ll have my masters in 15 months. The work isn’t boring either. Everything I’m reading about I can use now or can see myself using in a couple of years.

It’s better to get it now while I’m 25 and not wait until I’m 40 like most of the people in the class. I seriously felt a bit awkward in that classroom. It was filled with mostly women but women who had teenager or kids who are already adults. There was only one girl about the same age as me and she had just got her undergraduate degree. I kind of expected it to be older people in there since you have to have at least 5 years experience. I just didn’t think they would be that much older. I thought there might be people in their late 20’s or early 30’s -- yeah, not many of those.

Well hopefully things will go well. I’ve already sent my rough draft to the teacher. I’m going to be really upset if I get anything under a B. Got to get some sleep.

1.04.2007

back on track...for now

After two months, I finally made it back to the gym on Thursday. I took a couple of weeks off right before Thanksgiving. Then I got sick, so I decided to take the rest of the year off.

That turned into me eating like a mad woman who hadn’t had food in weeks. I tell ya; there is nothing like eating then rolling into bed for a good two-hour nap. Then getting up to eat again, then tumbling back to bed for an hour nap. That was my routine. Before I knew it I just brought the food to bed. Why waste time getting up? So I let myself go and decided I would get back on track at the beginning of the New Year. After all, I had worked out from February to November. Nine out of twelve months aren’t bad.

But after I stood in the mirror looking at my jiggling thighs I had some major regrets. Maybe if I hadn’t had that second piece of cake… Ladies and gentleman I have Beyonce thighs. I’m not talking about the ones Miss Beyonce has now. Those are the thighs I hope to have in two months..well maybe six. I’m talking about the old Beyonce thighs, before she toned up and broke from her group Destiny’s Child.

Last year I obsessed about my abs and successfully lost and gained the weight back, but this year it’s going to be my thighs. I can easily lose 5-7 pounds in a couples just by working out and controlling my meal portions, but after that I either gain it back or stay at that weight. I have to get to my goal weight: 120.

So I dove right back into my routine on Tuesday by going to step class. Unfortunately, it left me trying to catch my breath after the first 20 minutes. I had to leave 5 minutes before the class was over because I just couldn’t take it anymore.

So I decided I was going to ease into things instead. But my biggest fear came true. I sat on the bicycle machine and I had no idea how to work it. I have feared this since the moment I walked into the gym. Workout equipment and me equals disaster. I started pressing all the buttons and with no luck nothing happened. I looked around at all the other people – not for help, but to make sure they weren’t watching the idiot who couldn’t work the bicycling machine. After a while, I decided to do the “lets try something new today and work out on this machine” look and moved to another. Like I knew what I was doing. No luck.

Until my trusty co-worker walked through the door, whom I happened to mention to earlier that I had a little anxiety about working the machines. She sat next to me and I whispered, “I need help!” She told me to start pedaling. The dashboard lit up and I was on my way. No more Beyonce thighs here I come.

1.01.2007

new year, new home

In an effort to confuse everyone and lose probably most of my reader base (since I have no idea who reads this thing but apparently quite a few of you), I have decided to move my home. Just kidding! Actually I’m not trying to lose everyone; just a couple of people.

Unfortunately, I only have e-mail addresses for those of you who I hang out with, which means I might lose some of my cyber buddies. (Cue the music.) Maybe we’ll meet again someday!

A new year, a new home! Sounds about right, eh? Well, that means my old journals go bye, bye. That is at least from the web. I’ve been keeping them for the sheer purpose of writing my book. I started on it a couple of months ago, but I’m going to have to put it on halt for school, which brings me to my next point.

Yes, I said school. Unfortunately, I’m going back to get my master’s in business administration. I had money; wasn’t quite sure what to do with so I decided to make an investment in my education. Twelve courses, 36 hours, 36 in-class dates and 2 years; well a year and a half if I decide to take summer school.

Which brings me to my next point: I will have even less and less time to update this thing. But I will try. After all busy season at work is over with and here I am left with nothing to do but study and update my blog.