Merry (late) Christmas

Sorry, I didn't turn on the laptop during the holiday weekend, so this is my first post since before Christmas. Quite rankly, I had a few million other things on my mind, so I do apologize. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I am back at work today (I'm taking a break, okay! Lighten up). In between packing my office and reading a few papers, I decided to post. Christmas at the household was actually very nice, other than a few dark spots. I managed to get all the necessary cooking done, hurray! Although I didn't quite make up all my cookie dough, but considering that we now have a few dozen cookies and half a cheesecake left to eat, oh well. The good news (for Jason anyway) is that the turkey is all gone and I have to cook dinner tonight (bad news for me). we still have opened gifts under the tree that haven't been put away yet. Martin got a few million toys, but after looking at the size of out newest neighbor's trash pile this morning, I am thinking that all the cool babies got a few trillion toys for Christmas. Holy cow, there were a lot of boxes in there. While Martin (and I) were unwrapping all his gifts, it seemed like a lot. After we got the toys out of the boxes we found there really weren't so many, as many of the gifts were clothing, books, or completely age-inappropriate. So hopefully we aren't yet on our way to raising a materialistic little toy-monster. Oh yeah, an update for the lovely person who reads my blog and hates me. As a sidenote, don't you have better things to do with your time other than read my blog? I turned off anonymous submissions so you can't leave your hateful comments anymore, and you are too chicken-s*** to e-mail me, so go away already. You'll be happy to know that I haven't been getting much sleep lately. But I am sure you'll also be very burned to now that I still love my Husband and he is the greatest man in the world and he also loves me. Oh, and our child? I love him very much as well, and he seems very happy and well-adjusted, despite all of my personality flaws that you seem to think I have. So I guess I am nowhere near as miserable as you would like. So go screw yourself. Merry Christmas. Martin can sense the impending birth of his sister, and refuses to sleep in his crib these days. He wakes up around midnight and screams until we bring him to bed, or for two hours. Straight. We decided no more beddy bye with mommy and daddy, so last night we had the two hour marathon. Then after he finally fell back asleep, I was awake for another 90 minutes. Lovely. Good thing I only have to pack. I have been taking my reading in short spurts, so I don't fall asleep. Christmas at our house. My niece, nephew and ex-brother-in-law(ebil) came for Christmas. Having my ebil there is a bit strange, but it was nice seeing my niece and nephew, especially since my nephew is 18 and a free agent. I also feel a bit sorry for my ebil, he really is a nice guy. They were only down for the weekend though. Literally. Arrived on Saturday and left Sunday night. It did make for a nice Monday though. We had the day off and just sat around unboxing toys and playing. Well, break is over.

Did you really mean to "Reply to all"?

Ah, the misuse of that wicked button labeled, reply to all. We have all been on the receiving end of this critter. The bewildering e-mail that ends up in our inbox, and we look at it in confusion. What the hell is this? If you are lucky, there is only one set of discussion, but today I got a double whammy of the reply to all. Number One. Was someone who had gotten "spammed" by a semi-legitimate source. An opt-in from a trade journal, basically. Anyway, the guy was VERY ANGRY and hit the reply to all. I got the original message from the offending company, plus three more generated by the reply to all. It would have been funny if it wasn't so stupid. One instance of a person who was so out of it, he couldn't understand the e-mail was a sales marketing blast (You know, buy our amazing product at X% off, but instead of porn it is some legitimate offer), then two more from people who demanded to be unsubscribed from the mailing list. Now, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be removed from some spammers list, and maybe they did end up on this list quite unintentionally. Or maybe they opted in and just forgot. Anyway, all they did was annoy me, because I now got three more additional e-mails in my inbox. I did laugh at their silliness for using the reply to all button, however. Now, I know that anyone reading my blog has the know how to report spam and send it to the correct offending source, but just in case you need a refresher, here is a good place to start. I am of curse referring to those pesky bits of spam that make it past all you spam blockers. I have to admit that my company does a very good job of rejecting spam, and I have never received any of the porn type, and very few of non-business related spam, even in my junk mail box. Number Two. Now this one is funny, and I feel sorry for the person who sent it. I do think she should get fired for being so stupid though. Here's why. We all (and by we I am referring to my segment of the company) get this email yesterday regarding a change in a personnel contact. This position was formerly located on the west coast of the USA(PST), and now has moved to the midwest region of the USA(CST). All righty. So the person sends out the email, and she is all, "BTW, note the time change, and it is now two hours earlier". Then the rocket scientist does a reply to all saying, actually the time difference is only an hour earlier. WTF? I thought the time zones of the (mainland) USA went like this: PST, MST, CST, EST. And they are all an hour apart. DOH! I bet that is what she is saying now. She sent this out to the entire section of the company. Like 300 people. I hope she is about to take two weeks of holiday. I am still waiting for the reply to all responses telling her she is wrong. giggle

I'm making a list...

There was a time when I would make fun of people who made lists. Sure, I always made lists. As a college student, I would take great joy in looking though all of my notes and exam schedules, prioritizing the amount of study time per class and exam. Math and science first, English and humanities last, statistics never. I would never take these lists into my personal life, however. My personal life was a shambles, while my school life ran like clockwork. In graduate school, I did realize this dichotomy, but school/work was a major portion of my life, and I couldn't be bothered to fix up my personal life, I just let it kind of chug along without order, saying I would "fix it" when I graduated. When I graduated from school, for once and for all, I was married with a baby on a way. Talk about a new life! Now I really had to get the personal life in order. I began making lists. Like I already said, lists were not unknown to me, but it had just never occurred that I could take this lovely OC smacking behavior and apply it to my dull, boring life. But it works. I made grocery lists, list of things to do in the week, list of things still needed to purchase for the baby, lists for dinner that night, etc. When I started my job, my OC list-making once again turned toward the work related. I realized pretty quick that I couldn't let things slide at home. Mostly because I still have some OC, control freak tendencies and I couldn't bear the thought of my mother running my household. OK, back to the simple beauty of the list. I love making lists. There is a certain satisfaction one feels at the end when you look at the list and everything has been checked off. Or a certain panic when things don't get checked off. Usually, however once things make my list, they will get done. I cannot stand to see the item with no tick mark next to it. Jason knows this about me, so when he leaves the country, he will leave me a list of things to do. He knows that is he doesn't leave the list, I tend to "forget" to do things, and he will come home to collection letters from the exterminators or something. SO he leaves me a list. And I usually do everything on it. Usually. Most of the time. I made a list for Thanksgiving, as my sister and niece were in town, and I decided I would cook. It was unfortunate that Thanksgiving was also during NaNoWriMo, so my list was not as timely as I had wanted. Of course I had it delegated to tasks for each day, along with separate lists for the menu, shopping lists, etc. It was a bit of a mess at the end, I'll admit. Thanksgiving morning did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. I get to do it again. Now it is for Christmas. I have already began the lists. Well, just one really, the gift list. I hate it. I still have about three more gifts to buy. In desperation I told Jason that he had to buy for his dad and brother, after all, he knows them far better than I. I already bought for his Mom ad sister, and I have to say, NICE GIFTS. You know it's a good gift when you want to keep it for yourself. I still have to make the menu list, the shopping list, the schedule list, and the task list. I am looking forward to making these lists, of course. My niece and nephew are coming for Christmas, so I will be cooking again. I don't think it will be quite the production of thanksgiving. I am due with number two Jan 12, and I am already tired. Also, I'm not taking any official PTO over the season, so. Wish me well on my list making.

Gender bias in the sex industry?

OK, what is next? I am referring to this article I found on MSN. Betting on the Studs. In a nutshell, Heidi Fleiss, the notorious madam who served time for, well, madaming wants to open a male-staffed brothel in Nevada. You know, the state where prostitution is legal. OK. So, I clicked on the link, because just like everyone else, sex sells and I was interested in any link that says, "Inside Heidi Fleiss' all-male bordello." That's interesting, I thought. Truth be told, it never occurred to me there weren't male bordellos already open in Nevada, the state of paid love. I know there are male prostitutes that cater to both men and women in existence. I just ASSUMED (there I go again) that Nevada was an equal-opportunity state. Not the case. Not at all. Not by a long shot. I got pretty offended when I started reading this article. Basically offended on the level that people can still be so narrow minded, even when we are basically dealing in the gutter already. Personally, this entire thing affects me not at all. I still think of escorts as being, well, the domain of well-to-do people who are willing to spend a lot of money for something I can get from my husband. For free, well basically free anyway. But I digress. So first off, we have a Mr. George Flint, lobbyist for the Nevada Brothel Association saying (In a nutshell), that the Madam Fleiss' actions are going to get the entire sex-selling industry in Nevada outlawed, basically because no-ones wants to think of a woman paying for sex. I guess. And also that a prostitute is defined as "she" and they have to get annual gyn checkup, so the state statute covering the sex industry will need rewriting, and the conservative people of Nevada won't stand for it, they will rebel, and outlaw that nasty business once and for all. WHATEVER. Then the article had a quote from some random woman, who says (and I quote) "What self-respecting woman would drive that far for sex when it's so easy to find here in Vegas?" Note that the woman was in-line for an all-male stripper dance revue. So I guess a self respecting woman will pay to see Mr. Winky on stage, but she doesn't want to pay for one-on-one with Mr. Winky. Oh yeah, and also a self-respecting woman would rather have one-night stand sex with Mr. Random drunk guy she meets at the local bar than with, what I assume is an attractive, clean, safe guy who will push her buttons. Again, I am going out on a HUGE limb here. Then the article goes on to bash the gay community. Madam Fleiss apparently has her hands full just getting the ladies to see her clientele, and the gay men want in on the action. Understandably. So, I know that strip clubs chase away lesbians, but do brothels allow women customers? I have no idea, but for the sake of this article, I hope that a woman can walk into a brothel in the paid-love state of Nevada and get some girl-on-girl action without too much guff. Unfortunately, I fear it is not so. But they are going to black-ball (he he he) Madam Fleiss for only having women clientele in her male bordello. Whatever. I have already talked about a subject that doesn't concern me enough, already. Bring on the comments! Note: I do no advocate prostitution in any form. I am simply supplying my ideas.

Confessions of a tired woman

I am tired, no WE are tired. Martin just got Polio vaccine number three yesterday. I'll just blame that for his amazing crankiness that lasted until 6:00AM today. Poor Jason ended up sleeping on the floor next to his crib. He is a sweetheart for getting up with Martin these days, I can barely get any sleep because I appear to be carrying a circus performer. Even though I had that ultrasound at around 20 weeks, I remain unconvinced that there is only one baby in there. The movement is unprecedented. I mean, UNPRECEDENTED. I am getting beat up from the inside, and the only thing keeping me from peeing my pants every time "she" kicks are those strong kegel muscles I have. Well, that is one form of exercise I continue to do, anyway. I think there must be at least two babies in there, and they don't like each other very much, similar to the Mako Shark, I believe one on them is fighting for dominance. I mean, I hurt from the inside, is that normal? The baby already hates me. That's the other explanation. She knows I will dress her in pink, and she already hates pink. I also got a wing needle for my sewing machine so I can make her adorable little dresses with heirloom stitching details. She is rebelling at these clothing choices. The baby is LARGE. I think I only ever got this big with Martin, and I still have six weeks to go. When I got to work this morning, everyone just kind of stood around looking at my large belly. Nuff' said. Have I mentioned that I am tired? Between the battle for survival (Survivor: Pavlina's Womb!) occurring in my womb, kicking of my bladder so I have to get up and pee, poor (crap) circulation so I have to switch positions every 30 minutes, and Martin having nightmares, this soon-to-be-momma is sleep deprived. Question: Why is it that when we need our sleep the most (before the baby comes) we don't get it? Possible Answers: It is a cruel joke of nature. Nature is actually being kind and giving us a way to adapt for our later lack of sleep. I am just that unlucky. When I had Martin, I had him in the hospital. I was drugged, heavily, with a narcotic called Nubain approximately fours hours before he was born. As soon as they shot that into my IV, I was down for the count. I could barely be roused to push the wee fella out. After he was born, he was also drugged (beware the medicated births is all I can say) and had no interest what so ever in my booby, he feel asleep, and so did I. For like the next 24 hours. I kid you not. If this birth goes as planned, we will be in the Birthing center and I will be home within 12 hours of giving birth. The only question I have is, will I get enough sleep? I hope so. There is something to be said for the sweet, sweet sleep you get in the hospital. But that is the only good thing I can say about it. Oh yeah, just in case anyone cares, I did finish and win NaNoWriMo. It was bittersweet as it did cause some strife between Jason and I. But that is all over now. Well, mostly anyway. Now I can start preparing for the HOLIDAYS. I usually love Christmas time, but this year I'm not taking any vacation, because I am saying it for my maternity leave. So I will get a grand total of three days off. At least I get a four-day weekend for Christmas, and a three-day weekend for New Year's, but that is all. This means I have three weekends before Christmas to decorate and set up. Six weekends before the baby gets here. Here is my list: 1. Finish Christmas shopping and decorate the house 2. Finish baby shopping (Car seat, bassinet, sling wrap) 3. Finish baby sewing (bunting, two dozen diapers, six diaper covers (and yes, I use cloth diapers, but I don't care if you do, really)) 4. Wash and put away all baby clothes 5. Find all tiny little baby toys that Martin no longer plays with 6. Get baby supplies back from friends 7. Then decide what we are still missing 8. Cook and freeze a nutritious, hi-protein meal for after baby (or as I will do, make a run to Giant and buy a quiche or something.) 9. Pack bag YIKES!!! But we do have a pediatrician. I apologize for the baby-focused port.