Age is Just a Number

Office Space

   I sit here at my table in a corner of the conference room hearing sounds of hope - a drill, drilling holes and putting in screws for my new office furniture in my new office on the other side of the old floor.  It has been over 8 weeks now that I've done the discombobulated work routine.  This is how my day goes at work: 

I login and someone comes by and says "oh, you ARE here today" in a lame attempt to make me feel guilty for working at home part time.  I sort through the things on my table; some familiar, some not because others seem to ignore the fact that I have an inbox on a file cabinet nearby with a sign that says "Donna's In Box".   It couldn't be more obvious.   I send something to process or print on the big plotter and go check.  The go check part becomes an adventure in itself.  It is a maze through various cabinets and boxes and other evidence of office upheaval to the complete opposite end of the floor where the kitchen is like a rest stop on the way...where I pause to pick through the can of mixed nuts for cashews.  Most times I encounter someone along the way where a conversation ensues about something.   I happen by my future new office and watch, for a minute, the construction of desk parts.  Someone else comes by and asks if I am excited to get a new office.   We wander back to the kitchen where I check the mixed nuts again for more cashews, then back through the maze to my table in the conference room.  I sit down and see the processing window still open and remember why I left the desk in the first place a 1/2 hour ago.  I head back again, this time really, really focusing on what my errand is, with blinders on as I pass the kitchen. 

This is how it goes at home:

Well let's just say there's lots of kitchen breaks, dog barking breaks and guess-it's-time-to-get-out-of-the-jammies breaks.

Soon, soon, I will get my brain back, some organization and routine, and my own chair.

"...  And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire  ...   Mr. Lumbergh told me to talk to payroll and then payroll told me to talk to Mr. Lumbergh and I still haven't received my paycheck and he took my stapler and he never brought it back and then they moved my desk to storage room B and there was garbage on it... "

Music in the House

My future neice-in-law arrived today to spend two nights with us.   She is the fiance' to my nephew who I just visited in Houston.   She is also a musician -  a violinist - and is here to audition for the Colorado Symphony.   Although I don't actually post the sign "Must Play for Food" on my front door, she did play for us after dinner.   Wow, what a beautiful sight.  I love to hear music live, especially up close and personal.  It was like eating a double dose of really, really good dark chocolate.   She is a fine player and I certainly hope that she wins the position in the orchestra because then I will have family living near me again (of course my nephew would move here if she got the job!). 

Open Wide

My mouth is better.   I ate a carrot today, but accidently sloshed over to the Temporary side.    That hurt.    So I ate Ramen again this evening.    And two bites of German Chocolate Cheesecake.   Just thought you'd like to know.

Ramen Noodles through a Giant Straw

Speaking of dentists, I went to the dentist today.   I am   so    not    brave.   I don’t care how much of that surface numbing stuff they rub on the gum first, when that stuff gets squirted in, it is on my top ten of  I Really Don’t Likes.   After round three I asked the dentist if I was getting an average amount of numbing stuff.  He said “Oh, yea”.   I must be below average, though, for how long it takes to take effect, because at some later point he thumped me on the chin unbeknownst to me, and mumbled something about not needing the last dose.

Now don’t get me wrong, I really like my dentist.  I have been with him for 14 years and I drive to the Tech Center for him.  But he hasn’t had to do any “major” dental work in that time other than checking me out at cleaning time, and an itsy bitsy cavity once about 13.5 years ago.  Today I needed a replacement for a 20 year old crown.  And no, no jewels came with that.

At one point I asked for some lube for my lips because it felt like they were being stretched like a worn out old rubber band that doesn’t snap back into place, leaving my lips dangling on my face like something from a comic book cartoon.  And my jaw, oh, my poor TMJ.  That’s the reason I went to him in the first place because he specializes in people who, like me, grind their teeth away destroying the TMJ;  that joint connecting the eardrum to the molars.

So here I sit with Ramen noodles.  I crunched them up to make little noodlets so I could just slurp them down inside one side of my mouth.  The problem is that the noodlets mimmick my cheek that keeps getting in the way of the rest of my mouth. The result;  I am using a teaspoon and 8 bites have taken 10 minutes.  I need to reheat.

I think I just felt some tingling.  I can’t talk well – some would take a moment and give thanks - and I already feel the soreness creeping in.  I am sure a cat hair keeps hanging onto my lip, but the mirror reveals nothing. This could be the kickstart I needed to let loose of 5lbs.  Time to go reheat the noodlets.   

Just a Tuesday

I had a date tonite.   It was a long standing date from about 2.5 months ago, because this week is spring break.   We cleaned up the garage.   Oh, now that's exciting, you say.   It really is.   I can walk halfway across now without stubbing a kneecap or banging an elbow to put the trash bag into the trash can.   With the cold weather and snow, everything was getting shoved into the door such that it was filling up.   So we organized and put the Christmas decorations back on the shelf. - I am certain we are not the last ones to do this - the Grinch is still lurking across the street.

It was a good day.

In Longhorn Country

Houston had pretty fabulous weather;  low 70's, sunny.   We went for a comfy rental car, which made up for the average hotel room with scratchy towels and hard lumpy pillows.   We drove all over the place...to eat, to be tourists and to visit my nephew.

We saw the Battleship Texas.   John, being a former battleshipper himself, gave me the 1st class tour and I learned all kinds of stuff I'll bet the tour guides didn't know, like Frame Numbers, chipping paint on the deck, guns and giant bullets.   And we did our most favorite thing while travelling:  buy a cheap styrofoam cooler and buy all kinds of stuff for picnicing while we are out and about.  This time it was yummy cheeses with crusty breads, vegetables and yogurt.   We didn't have any wine though, bummer.     Then we saw the San Jacinto playground battleground monument - this is apparently where the fate of Texas was decided and it became independent (don't quote me, I didn't read everything).   However, it proves the slogan "Texas Proud".   We went to NASA.   My summary in a sentence:  There's nothing to see there so they had to build a big building with all kinds of things to do to trap the kids and very slightly entertain the burned out parents at $18.95/head + $5 for parking.   However we did see the rather sterile and static original Mission Control which is now a national monument - apparently.   Save your $ for Kennedy Space Center in Florida where you can hit Orlando on your way by.   Did I mention a quick trip to Galveston where I dipped my toes in the Gulf of Mexico and counted 9 offshore rigs?

We ate very, very authentic Chinese food - Jade City will never taste the same.   We drove by Lakewood Church, where Lakewood was in 30 ft (give or take) size letters and Joel Olsteen was in 25ft (give or take) size letters.  Methinks that if my pastor's name is placed on the side of the building in light-up letters I may have to move on....hmmm, who's church is it anyway?   We ate good 'ole Texas BBQ from Goode's.  I ain't much of a BBQ fan, but this was indeedy-doody good.  And if eating out wasn't enough - as there is no end to places to eat out in Houston - my nephew cooked for us with homemade pasta to die for, and believe it or not:  balsamic vinegar and strawberries.  There's an art there and I ate it.

And, we went to The Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra concert (at Rice U.) where they performed Scheherazade.  This was a highlight because I heard my nephew's solos for the last time at school - he will be finished there in a month leaving with a master's degree (exercising my bragging rights).

That's Texas in a nutshell - if possible.   I feel lucky to have left the state not getting into a car wreck - those people are nuts!

Flying Texas Style

We decided to go to Houston for 4 days over this weekend for my nephew's concert and purchased an insane 6 a.m. flight.  When the alarm went off at 3 a.m. even the cat was blinky eyed and confused. We zipped to the airport and made our way through the gauntlet of oversized bags and underaged teens making an early getaway for spring break.  Technically we are on spring break too, well, John is.  He took his last 2 tests Wed. evening and he was outta there.

4 a.m. is just too early to eat at my age. I don't have the recirculating 24 hour clock I had 20-30 years ago.  I have to wonder why, though, while walking through the terminal that Einstein's is dark and locked, while McDonald's, and yes - Villa Pizza - is serving what looked like saggy hash at 5 a.m. However, I did get my first hash brown unit from McD's in about 20 years.  I am on vacation after all.

Smooth flight to Dallas/Ft. Worth where we change flights as a condition of getting cheap tickets. We arrive on the opposite end of where we need to be for our connecting flight.  We still needed boarding passes so we made our way to gate B-21.  When we arrived at B-21 we are told the plane is broken, go to B-20.  We go to B-20 to find the plane is overweight, needs to lose weight, and who wants a $200 voucher to help with the plane's weight loss program? We him-hawed around and decided to go for it, but then learned that we needed to go back to B-21 because somebody took our plane to go to Little Rock . Back at B-21 the gate attendant is getting pretty cranky having to keep telling people all she has to offer is a broken plane.  So she pawns us off on to gate B-12.

At B-12 Jamaica Jane has a boom box going and seems to be working two counters.   We step into what we think is the appropriate line, while others seem to think the slide in method from the side is the way to go.  Maybe everyone is getting ansty at this point as it is only 15 minutes before liftoff.   There is no further mention of a diet plan for the plane, and we are getting fairly happy to leave this place of confusion, voucher or no voucher.   We find they cannot seat us together while two personnel banter back and forth as if they are both searching their databases for adjoining seats.  Then they break into spanish - No Fair! - as if now what they have to say is forbidden to the rest of us nearby to hear.   We get on the plane to see that it is 2/3 full and there is a seat open next to John.  Now why they couldn't get this straight out front I'll never know.   And, since the confusion is not dissipating any, someone comes on the plane looking for 2 people to let them know that this is not their flight, except the two people were not on this flight.  So, we have a broken plane, an overweight plane, a swiped plane bound for Little Rock and two missing people.   Glad I had carry-on.

What Is It.2

Well, it looks like only a few brave souls put themselves out there for the Google Earth/Coffee competition - which makes it cheaper for me! 

The answer to the Google Earth waffle-y looking picture is  - well, I don't have an answer - at least not before I got my brother's answer.  However I will offer up his pearl of a guess because he is at least in the vicinity. 

This picture is of the island Ogigaura, in the Bonin Islands, northish of Iwo-Jima.  When my brother flew to Shanghai last year he saw similar waffle-y looking pod things in the waters near to the shores there.  He guessed probably - and I am guessing because knowing him he asked somebody - that they are oyster farms.

Once I got that clue, I Googled oyster farms, images, and found this (scroll to second to the last row).  For those of you who declined to embarrass yourselves with a guess, no coffee for you.  For those of you who put a guess out there, I suppose you will get some sort of consolation prize.  Most time spent?  Most creative?  Hmmm...I may be contacting you just because somebody gets to win.

What On Earth Is This?

I'll buy a coffee for the first person who can positively identify what these features are.   Hint:  I left the lat and long in the picture.

 

Welcome to a New Blogger!

Take a look at a new blogger in our universe - Stephanie joins us from Step-motherville right here in our own neighborhood.   She likes ranting, coffee and people who have a clue.   Hope you enjoy her blog - let's give it up for Stephanie!