Dreamland...
Whitney Houston (that was the only weirdness in this dream, but I think she has a very soothing speaking voice) was doing a voiceover on how wonderful water birthing is and how you should have a water birth and let the baby float around in the water for a while, even after the placenta has been birthed as well, just let the baby and placenta float around still attached by the umbilical cord (okay, maybe that was a little different too, because I wouldn't just let the baby float around attached to the placenta).
Right after she said that part, I found myself in a big warm body of water (no pool walls in sight or anything), face-to-face with a newborn baby, eyes closed, still attached to his placenta (I never saw genitals, but I knew it was a boy, and I knew it was my baby even though the water was perfectly clear, totally unclouded by all the fluids involved in birth). Fast forward to a scene of the umbilical cord being cut after we'd gotten out of the water (we were both dry at this point). Fast forward again to me cradling him baby-style (in the crook of my elbow), deciding I needed to put some clothes on him so he wouldn't get cold (we were both naked - I hadn't diapered him yet).
I got to the closet and there were tons of new blue baby clothes. As I was trying to decide what to dress him in, he started rooting. I latched him on and he opened his eyes for the first time and looked directly at me.
Then I woke up.
I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but that was the most powerful dream I've ever had.
Travelers choosing the wrong airport
Travelers wanting to go to the Lafayette, LA accidentally wind up at Purdue University Airport in West Lafayette, IN about once a month. Seems like they use the wrong airport code when booking their flights online. Northwest was even offering special fares to people who wound up there who weren't supposed to be there. Sounds good to me. The article also mentions that the same thing happens occasionally with Grand Rapids, MN vs. Grand Rapids, MI, Rochester, NY vs. Rochester, MN as well as other cities.
The thing I had a problem with was something said by the general manager of the commercial carrier serving the Purdue airport. What a stroke of genius this is: "You feel bad for the people," Burns said. "It's not their fault." Ummm, wait a minute. HOW is it not their fault? They booked the wrong flight because they picked the wrong airport. Welcome to the dumbing-down of America, ladies and gents. I can fly to the complete wrong airport and IT'S NOT MY FAULT. It's not my fault if I'm too lazy to double check, triple-check and even quadruple-check if necessary to make sure I'm flying to the correct state.
Hey, I've got a thought. How about if I'm too busy to look both ways after stopping at a stop sign. If there's an accident, hey... NOT MY FAULT.
End of rant...
I don't like it
The new design for the World Trade Center has been chosen. And I don't like it. It was explained best by my friend Frank, who put it much better than I ever could: "I finally realized why I didn't like any of the designs. They aren't the WTC. That's what I want. I want the towers rebuilt, one story higher than before."
As much as I hate to be area-centric, I honestly don't think non-New Yorkers can ever fully comprehend what the loss of those towers meant to NYC. Although I grew up on Long Island, about 60 miles from the towers, I went to the city frequently to visit family and saw them all the time. When such an integral part of your landscape is suddenly and violently gone, its destruction takes a little piece of you. A piece of your childhood memory is gone. And it hurts. It hurts a LOT.
My now-husband and I drove to NY to visit my family about 3 weeks after the attacks (a trip that had been planned for months), and thankfully for me it was dark when we crossed the bridge, and since we took the GWB to avoid Manhattan as much as possible, I'm not sure I would have been able to see them anyway, except on a very clear day.
However, I flew to NY last June for my father's 50th birthday, and it was much different. Since I flew, of course I got a beautiful aerial view of the city, sans towers. Almost a year after the attacks and I cried like a baby as we were landing. Same thing happened as I was perusing the finalists for the new design. I got through maybe 2 or 3 of the designs before I broke down. I glanced at the one that was chosen, but to me it doesn't matter. It's not the WTC.
Another "random work vent" update
Now I feel sorry for the girl. Yesterday, I was incredibly pissed at her for behaving poorly. Today she confronted me because she "heard" that I was "talking shit" about her. I called her on her piss-poor behavior from yesterday and again this morning. She acknowledged that she acted like a child, apologized, and we made up. Boom. Just like that. A friend of mine said I was a bigger woman than she (well, duh - I'm bigger than most), but I figured what the hell - she acknowledged and apologized. It was a first-time offense, so why not forget it and move on? So all was well.
Half an hour later, she got fired. It had been coming for a while, and she hated the job and many coworkers anyway, and our boss didn't even know about the fight she and I had... but I still feel awful for her. Here's to hoping she finds something better for her.
More evidence in favor of parental licenses
i.e., requiring people to have a license in order to become a parent. Apparently a woman wanted to travel to Mexico with her son. No biggie. Well, it turns out that according to custody arrangements, she wasn't permitted to bring said child on a trip without his father's written permission, which she didn't have. Upon realizing that she didn't have the necessary documentation to bring her son on the trip, she LEFT THE KID IN THE TERMINAL and boarded the plane. This woman was just going to dump the kid at the airport while she went to Mexico. Thankfully the cops found the kid and yanked the mother off the plane before it took off. Lovely. Just freaking lovely.
UPDATE!!! She was on her way to Mazatlan with a "male companion" and her 17-year-old daughter. Her story is that she arranged for an airline employee to watch the 6-year-old while someone was on the way to pick him up, but they say that's not how it happened. The airline is saying that none of their employees consented to watching him. The person she contacted to come pick the kid up got there after the situation had developed, but mom was already on the plane by then. Bottom line is that she left the kid in a busy airport terminal while she got on the plane. Mother-of-the-Year material, this woman.
Sad day in the culinary world
"One of France's most celebrated chefs has apparently committed suicide after his flagship restaurant was downgraded in a top restaurant guide." Bernard Loiseau had been quoted as saying "if I lose a star, I'll kill myself." Sadly, it doesn't seem like he was joking.
My friends have the cutest kids!!!
IRL friend and online friends alike... come to think of it, why do people (myself included, up until now) feel the need to make the distinction? I've known some of my "online friends" longer than I've known some of my "IRL friends." And I like them all the same. In fact, I'm closer to some of my "online friends" than I am to some of my "IRL friends." So I'm just going to refer to them all as "friends," forget the stinkin' distinction. That said... my friends have the cutest kids!!!!!
YGTBKM (You've got to be kidding me)
Police field complaint about busty snow woman. Basically, someone called the police because one of their neighbors built a snowwoman with - gasp! - BOOBS!!! The horror!! My favorite quote: "He said that I should cut off her breasts, but I said no woman wants that," Lynn, 35, said.
Random work vent
Why do some people get so freaking pissy when you don't agree with every word they say? One of my coworkers is now not speaking to me because I dared to disagree with how she handled a customer's situation. How old are we, folks? And the kicker? She thinks everyone else in the department is immature!!
UPDATE!!! She's now blatantly ignoring me. She is friends with the girl who sits next to me, and came over to visit with her over her lunch hour (though her lunch hour was really over and she was ignoring the phones, but that's another beef entirely). She made this huge showy display of saying hi to everyone else sitting in this area and then promptly sat down with her back to me. See what I have to put up with? Thankfully I see this as amusement. Heaven forbid someone did that to her, she'd go home crying like she did the day someone had the "nerve" to tell her she wasn't doing her job properly. Oy.
I can't believe I keep forgetting about this
I had my very first Krispy Kreme on Sunday. It was good, but I'm still not convinced it's better than Dunkin' Donuts. We soooooo need a Dunkin' Donuts around here somwhere. And while I'm on that subject, how about a 7-Eleven and a Carvel and a Friendly's, too? I can tell it's been a while since I've been back east when I start having these kind of cravings. December is too far off. I may break down at some point and finally satisfy my curiosity about Prima Pizza - they'll make you a NY pizza and FedEx it to you for $30. I can get semi-decent bagels at Panera, but the pizza's just not the same. There's a little place down on State Street that does NY-style pizza, but it's not the same.
Un-freaking-believeable
Philly dad comes out shootin' after his daughter is hit by a stray snowball. Brawl ensues between adult relatives of 2 girls involved, a 10-year-old is critically wounded. What ever happened to "my dad can beat up your dad?" It's now "my daddy's gonna shoot you?" Stop the world, I want to get off.
Withdrawal
Is it bad that I go through withdrawal when one of the groups in my list of Yahoo! Groups isn't functioning properly? Rather than posting on the board, we're all just e-mailing each other today, LOL.
Random work vent
READ YOUR BILL BEFORE YOU CALL!!!! It never ceases to amaze me how many people call my department to complain about their bill without taking the time to read it first. If you can suddenly understand your bill with a quick one-sentence explanation, it usually means you were just too damn lazy to read it in the first place - especially since all I do is read your bill back to you. I repeat: READ YOUR BILL, PEOPLE!!!!!!
Completely insane
In Nicaragua, the Archbishop of Managua has recommended that a 9-YEAR-OLD girl carry her baby to term after being impregnated via rape. This is wrong on so many levels. First off, she was RAPED. Second of all, she's 9 YEARS OLD!!!!! Quote from the girl, giving her opinion on whether she wants to have the baby: "I don't want to share my toys with other children," she said. "I take care of my toys." So sad...
Car woes
I should have been an auto mechanic. My car did this weird thing this morning where the windshield was defrosting just fine, but completely fogged over when I got up to highway speed. I pulled over twice, then finally just sat there for about 10 minutes waiting for it to defrost completely. Since I just had it in the shop for almost $500 in repairs last week, of course I freaked out. It's fine now, but I was late for work, which may or may not affect my possible upcoming promotion. Oy vey.
More from the "people are stupid" files
I would never have believed in the existence of this blog if I hadn't seen it myself. I think I might add this to my list of "blogs to read every day" just for the LMAO aspect. Again, dumbass.
From the "people are stupid" files
When a business calls your house and asks for someone who doesn't live there, why do they think the person will suddenly materialize out of thin air if they add a last name? Here's a snippet of a conversation I had with a caller a couple of days ago:
Caller: "Hello, may I please speak with Thomas?"
Me: "I'm sorry, there's no Thomas living here, you have the wrong number."
Caller: "I'm sorry. Thomas Smith??"
What the heck? Yeah, like there wasn't a Thomas in my house 15 seconds ago, but you know what? Now that I know you're talking about Thomas SMITH, of course he's here - let me put him right on!!! Dumbass.
You've got to be fucking kidding me
What the fuck do you mean using fucking obscene language cheapens our fucking dignity? What a load of shit. Mother fuck.
Why couldn't have I been born rich instead of beautiful?
Anyone have any bright ideas how to get it through creditors' heads that when you live paycheck-to-paycheck, their money won't always be on time, and may be - gasp!! - a week late from time to time? I really need to write that "don't call us at home" letter.
Fun with HTML
I'm in the middle of some format and color updates. Please excuse any at-times-but-temporary funkiness.
Quote of the "whatever interval"
Erica, referring to some dumba$$ who commented on her blog, comparing him to one of our friends: "If he's gonna be conservative and Republican, he could at least be intelligent and articulate like Frank."
Updates
Password prompt for FrontPage is now gone. My internal publishing rep said she had no idea why it happened. The tech support rep said he had no idea what was going on, but I'm not the only person who called about it.
Got a call last night from the Piggly Wiggly guy. Apologetic, said the owner of Pig handled the situation poorly, he hopes I still "Shop the Pig," yadda yadda. I'll think about it.
Work sucks!
Maybe I should have taken today off instead. I got an e-mail from my team lead saying that some people think our department's Intranet site is difficult to navigate. I publish our department's Intranet page, so of course I'm feeling protective of it. Well honey, you approved it, my supervisor approved it, and the head of Intranet publishing approved it, and she's supposedly a "usability expert." Personally - all protectiveness aside - I think that if you can't navigate it you must have a hole in your head where the brains leaked out. It's very organized. Not to mention that this is the first bit of negative feedback I've received, so I was confused to say the least. She also asked a pointed question about why something is listed on a particular page. Ummm, I dunno - SHE was the last one to update that page. And to top it all off, it seems that publishing rights are now password-protected and nobody had the decency to tell me about it. And it's only 8:30.
Nighty night
A little light bedtime reading...
The Beanie Weenies
Shocker! The horse had a better chance than Evan ever did.
I want a job at one of those companies!
@$#&#$@ tissues @%#$& water &$%#@ eyes
Why Do Onions Make You Cry?
I was only there to buy 2 things. Seriously!!!
Okay, can I just say how much I LOVE Save-A-Lot?!?! I stopped there on the way home to grab some potatoes and onions b/c they have decent (and decently priced) produce. I had NO IDEA! Their produce is great!!! I have to shop there more often. I got 7 packages of hot dogs (for Friday night), 4 packages of buns, 5lbs. of potatoes, 6lbs. of onions, a container of baking cocoa, 2 bell peppers, 2 huge cucumbers, 2 mangoes, 2 containers of white mushrooms, at least a pound of Roma tomatoes, four gallons of milk (it was on secial 49 cents for a half gallon), a bottle of salad dressing, half a gallon of chocolate milk and two kitchen towels. Grand total? $27.03. Oh, and that includes 5 bags at 10 cents each - apparently discount grocery stores don't give you bags. They will provide you with cardboard boxes, I just prefer bags. Not to mention their bags are huge and quite sturdy. Now, that trip would have cost me well over $40 at Piggly Wiggly, a store I'm currently avoiding until I can speak with a higher-up regarding my complaint on PlanetFeedback. Said higher-up left a message on my answering machine the day I sumbitted said complaint, bt I haven't had a chance to call him back. Maybe I'll do that since I'm home and it's during business hours...
The weather is certainly NOT frightful...
It's absolutely gorgeous here today. High 40s and not a cloud in the sky. High 40s may not sound like a lot, but compared to the 20s we've been having, it's a veritable heat wave. I SO played hooky. I went to work this morning, then went out for lunch and could hardly bear to go back into the building, so I cleared it with my supervisor and took the rest of the day off. :D Hooray!
Random rant
I hate it when people call my department and ask to be transferred to someone I've never heard of simply because my department is a call center with a toll-free number.
From the "WTF?!?!" files
Apparently a woman in Britain decided to inseminate herself with sperm from a used condom while her partner was taking a post-nookie shower. British courts ruled that the unwitting father has to pay child support (to the tune of appx. $650 American per month). Couldn't find a decent article, but you can listen to the radio show here (I got the other details from a message board, from people who have listened to the show - I don't want to take the chance of listening at work).
New Beginnings
I've decided to be a sheep and get myself one of these things. Now if I can just figure out how to use it...