I blame Judy

Ignore the time between posts.  A lot has happened in the past six months and at some point I might write about it.... but not now.  I keep getting a nudge from an annoying, loving friend who will say "I haven't seen you write anything lately"  What??  Texting doesn't count as writing?!  *sigh*  Whatever....  Fine!  You asked for it!!


I'm going on a vacation.  A real bona fied vacation.  Not a staycation but one where I pack a suitcase and get on a plane to travel 2000 miles away from my comfort zone.  We ( me and Mom) are heading to California to surprise my aunt for her birthday.  Some might question the wisdom of surprising an almost 79 year old person who doesn't like surprises... but not us!  We live on the edge!  That and my cousin assured me we won't need to have a medic standing by...... he better be right.

Somehow the trip planning has fallen on me.  Find the flights, book a car, and find the hotels.  I will find them and mom will change them.  It's a given.  Tonight's pre trip planning involves the hotels.  Since my aunt lives almost exactly in the middle of Los Angles and San Fransisco (a four and half hour drive either way) we have decided to fly in one day and drive down the next.  This will just be easier on mom..... we hope.  My cousin, extremely glad we are coming out, has offered to pay for our room when we get there.  I'm not stupid.... I said yes!  So this only leave me looking for a hotel in San Fransisco.  One night when we arrive and two when we leave (a day of sight seeing and fisherman's wharf!) shouldn't be too hard, right?

My mom was talking to her friend Judy (I am not changing the names to protect the innocent because I'm totally blaming Judy for this) and Judy happened to mention that the best nights sleep she ever got while traveling was at a Comfort Inn.  This spurred Mom on and she finds a Comfort Inn in San Fransisco and sent me the link.  I looked at it and emailed her back saying "It looks good.  If you want it, book it.".  I know when to agree and when to not....

This was the conversation today:
Mom: So you think that room will be ok?
Me:  Looks fine Mom.
Mom: I wasn't sure what you could see from that link I sent.  Could you see the hotel?
Me: Yup.  Looks fine Mom.
Mom:  And it's reasonable! Only $69 for the night.  Judy said Comfort Inns have comfortable beds.
Me:  And you don't think each Inn's beds *might* be a little different?
Mom:  Yes.  That's why I was thinking of going to one here locally and asking if I could test the bed.

(this is where my mouth falls open and I have to replay that last comment in my mind a few times before I can respond)

Me:  Mom..... each Inn will be different.  You have no clue how much turn over each place has or how old   the beds are...
Mom:  That's why I'm going to test the bed!
Me:  Mom!  it's one night for $69!  If anything I think you would be more interested in the hotel Cousin is getting for us since we will be staying there longer....
Mom:  I can't do anything about that.  He's paying for the room.
Me: Mom.  Again?  It's only one night.  It's going to cost you in time and gas to go test a bed for a $69 hotel!
Mom:  You know.... I actually like Holiday Inns' better......
Me:  They have lots of those in the San Fransisco area. I'll look and send you a link.
Mom:  Yeah... I think that might be better.

I just chuckled to myself.  I had already reserved the room at a Holiday Inn and hadn't told her.  Now to work on a car.  Help?




(happy Mark?)

modern techology ...and mom

....don't mix. Just ask me and I'll tell you. Since she retired, mom has taken up a new hobby. I know, it doesn't sound like a bad thing but you just don't know *sigh*. She writes letters. To companies. Local companies, national companies, it doesn't matter. Mom will write a letter. Her mission in life is to make sure they know when she's displeased. Period. Mom even went so far as to write to a local television station after she got HD service on her tv. Not so bad you say? Riiight. Mom complained that one of the newscasters was too old to be on tv and her make up looked horrible. She came upon this realization when she saw the newscaster for the first time in HD. Soon after that, the newscaster announce her retirement. I think mom is taking credit for it.

Mom also has discovered the joys of social networking.... except she calls everything a "blog"

"Velv... did you see what XXXXX wrote on their blog?"
"I had no clue XXXXX had blog!"
"Yes they do! You know... on the facebook!"
"Oh... you mean their wall...."

Now I get...

"did you see what XXXXXX wrote on their wall blog?"

So basically it boils down to this: Anything that she can respond to on a website is a "blog". As long as I remember this little fact I can translate mom-->modern technology!

Catch up!

I was told to in a very polite way that this page hasn't been updated in a while. You were right. It hasn't. So much has been going on.... where to start....

School - is going good. I had originally planned to take a class then take a term off, take a class, term off. Instead I seem to just be taking classes. I'm now considered a sophomore! It will get done... one class at a time.

VW- My time in Second Life is next to nothing. I'll log in to listen to some musicians I like and while there, I'm normally multi tasking.. home work, social media, or catching up with a few friends. There isn't much there for me anymore. I've moved to InWorldz!

In Worldz - See above *points up* My closest friends from SL went there so it only made sense that I too go! And go I did. We've started a role play group and Krsna is even trying to lend gentle guidance and direction to get the whole rp community of IW to act together and help each other. It's really amazing.

RL - Between work and school, there isn't time for much else......... I have a list of people I need to contact. Becky... you're on that list. We need to do dinner.

Work - This falls into RL but I needed to give this it's own little section. Sometimes you wonder about your place in the giant scheme of things. Yesterday I had my answer. An agent came to my desk and asked me if I could do something about a ticket. The group it was sent to hadn't picked it up to work on it and the customer was calling back asking for an update. I looked at the ticket and frowned. A patient in the hospital was asking for access to skype. This hospital is HUGE and the computers in it are "locked down"... meaning not anyone can add unapproved programs. Plus... we don't normally do support for a patients family. The agent then told me to read the ticket. And I did. The patient was in ICU and his only daughter was getting married this weekend. The only way he could attend the wedding would be using Skype. How could I not try to do something?!?! I called a manager of a group to see if a firewall needed to be opened. I explained the situation and he told me how they could make it work. I then called the manager of the Dell desk top technicians. This was were the problem would be. Under the contract Dell has with our company, they only work on hospital owned machines. This computer was owned by the family. I explained the problem and when I got to the the part about the wedding, his response? "How can we NOT help?! Of course!" He then contacted one of his techs and made it happen.

So this family will have no clue about the part I played in helping make their day special, but I will and that's enough for me.

Know what else? I kinda missed this page.......

Life isn't fair

Life isn't fair. We all know that. It doesn't always play fair and it changes the rules as it goes along. But it's really not fair that 18 year olds have to die to remind us of this. It's not fair that they leave behind friends who at eighteen, think they are invincibly and can do anything. It's not fair that they have to realize they aren't.

My nephew lost his friend this weekend to a car accident. In the order of things, grandparents die, great aunts die.... friends of your parents. Not your best friend.

My nephew will go on with his life, perhaps a little more cautiously then before... but he will go on. After all... this is a life lesson and all part of growing up. And yeah.... the one thing he will remember the rest of his life about this? Life isn't fair.

life.

Yesterday…..sucked. I made a choice that left me feeling numb… And cursing the fact I always seem to do the practical thing and what’s expected. At some point.. it *will* be about me.

being a responsible adult....

This post is going to ramble and meander around a few topics so I beg your indulgence as I clear the thoughts from my head!

The last class I had was a personal finance class. Let me just say... if this is a college level class then our nation as a whole is in deep trouble. The stuff taught in this class was stuff that I remember having in a consumer econ class in high school! We learned about buying car insurance. Yup. You heard right. Not only that but how to create a budget.... I laughed at this part. I mean seriously... if I could live on unemployment for a year and still pay my bills, I think I have a grasp on budgeting. This was the first class that after the very first week, I had started a count down to when the class would end! The one thing I did get from this class was the need to make a will.

Which brings us to the next disjointed thought in my head... We had open enrollment of benefits at work. I know.. you all wish you could have this much fun! But sadly it's reserved just for employees of the company. The one thing I did sign up for this time was legal services. Yup... I now have an attorney on retainer!! I feel so.... grown up... and responsible. The reason I did this? The service includes the creation of a will. Ever since the personal finance class, I've been thinking that I need this. If anything were to happen to me, everything I have would go to probate.... and I don't want that to happen.

Which brings me to the next thought....
I will need an executor. More on that thought later... (it involves the sister in law and will be a post by itself)

Meander now to the stuff I own....
Because of the will thing (read above), I've been thinking of who should get my stuff. My things only carry meaning to me. No one else cares where I got that little thing or the memories that seeing it evokes. But when I'm gone, I won't care what happens to the stuff. All except two things. From the time I celebrate my very first Christmas, there have been two items I've always had; the nativity creche and the angel tree topper. My mom and I have had a few arguments over the years on retiring the angel. She's seen better days... her wings might have a wrinkle or two in them and the metal might be a bit tarnished. But my argument is that when you put her on top of the tree and see her at night lit by the twinkle of tree lights, she's beautiful. I guess I won this argument because some years back, my mom gave me the angel. I think the price on the box says $2.65 ... or something.....

The other item is the Christmas creche. It's a very simple thing... Mary, Joseph, the baby and a few animals... not to mention the angel. What more do you need for a simple Christmas story? As a kid I remember laying on the ground playing with the figurines.... moving the lambs around and placing the cow so it's breath kept the baby warm. But it was my aunt's set I always wanted. It had every piece possible. The three kings were there.... camels...shepherds... lots of stuff. As a kid I always thought it put ours to shame in the opulence their set had. Then I got a little older and realized that I loved the simplicity of our set. There is also more woven into this story then just the religious symbolism of the figurines... my mom made the stable. She was about 8.5 months pregnant, standing in the cold garage nailing the wood pieces together while I was inside the house taking a nap. (hey!!! I was only about 10 months old!! naps were allowed and encouraged!) So when I look at the creche, I see my mom... I also see the angel that was my grandmothers.... and I see the pieces I've added. When I look at it, I don't just see the manger scene from the bible, I see generations of tradition. Now to decide who to entrust this to....

So as you can see, being a responsible adult takes a lot of thought...... and all of this thinking has just worn me out.

a moment...

I came to a huge realization today: Getting laid off severely shook my self confidence. Where I used to stand and fight, today I back down and hide.

I need to find parts of the old me......... but how.........