Big Girl Underoos

Today is my last day in my current job! Hurray! Huzzah! I feel like I should be less happy but oh well. Today is also the last day of June, the last day before people lose their vacation time because of the new fiscal year, so there is no one here. I have a few more things I need to do to make the transition easier for the person taking on one of my biggest and continuing projects. Then I will go through files, pack up my stuff, and say Sayonara! Although it isn't really goodbye because technically I'm still part of the department I am currently in but I'm leaving the building so I won't be a constant presence. Huzzah! This will probably be the last post for at least a week as Friendster Guy and I are heading out on vacation into the unknown. The unknown being our ability to stay with and tolerate each other 24 hours a day for 7 days. I'm excited but ready to face any challenges inherent in such a test. At least it's not a road trip. And our cabin has multiple r

You know what I don't get? I don't get how in real life, like the life you and I are living right now, we are not allowed, and even expressly punished, if we hurt or kill someone we disagree with in some way. For instance, I'm not about to go get my uzi and blow away someone at the grocery store because they got the last box of Devil Dogs (Gosh I love those things.) I'm not even going to do that if some idiot crashes into my car and maims or kills me or my passengers, even if it's totally their fault. And yet, when it comes to war, you're absolutely allowed to do that. It doesn't make sense to me that the whole goal of war is to kill more of the other side and that means you win. There HAS to be another way to go about reconcilling our differences. Like talking. Hey, novel idea I know. Or even maybe a game of skill. Like chess. Or even football. Why do people actually have to die in order for one side to win or get their point across? Is deciding on an outco

Dear readers, I am alive. I am incredibly busy trying to get every aspect of my job finished or at least downloaded into someone else's head before my last day this Friday. This is the problem with my current position - no one, and I mean NO ONE, else knows what on earth I do. Luckily, my projects are independent and I can pawn them off onto several people instead of one poor shmuck who already has their own job to do. I'm doing very well at not running screaming from my office in a panicked frenzy. But it's there right beneath the surface. I am quite proud of myself for controlling it and not letting it bubble up. If I can maintain this much self-control and calmness (even feigned) in my next job I will be AOK. In addition, I am packing for my vacation with Friendster Guy. I so need this vacation. You may not hear from me for awhile. Either my head exploded or I went away to relax. Let's hope the latter. I think I'll make it.

Liz over at Granny Gets A Vibrator is immersing herself in Black culture for the month. I think this is an amazing endeavor simply because it's so simple. African Americans are constantly immersed in White culture. You have to work hard to do the opposite. If I had the time I'd think about doing it. Maybe sometime after my thesis is written. Of course Liz's located where there actually is Black culture. I don't think I'm stretching when I say that the Upper Valley is pretty devoid of any ethnic culture on a large scale. There are the Asian folks who run the Asian restaurants. Then there are the adopted children with white parents. And as for Black culture, it's hard even to find a hairstylist who knows what to do. They have literally had to import someone on a part time basis. Most of the African Americans in the area are students of some kind, and the ones that live here permanently are assumed to be transients as well, even when they've lived here for dec

Ok, so it's across the street. But still. When was the last time you could hear the screams of adolescents from your apartment? Don't answer that. The tilt-o-whirl and other well lit rides at the local fair. Picture taken this evening from my front yard. Today was a long day. It started out in Manchester, NH with my niece and my mother. We left Manchester at 8:30am for the two hour drive to Story Land . We got there and proceded to go on every ride in the park. Luckily, it never rained after we got off the highway. I say luckily because for some reason the weather this spring/summer thinks this area is Seattle or the wet part of Texas or something. It's rained everyday since April. And we've been recently getting huge thunderstorms. Very cool, but very inconvenient. So anyway, it didn't rain on our Story Land trip so we were happy. And it stayed nice and cool. It was perfect. We didn't leave until they made the first announcement that they were going to be closi

"Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) has introduced the Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women's Services Act ( H.R. 5052 ) which would enforce truth-in-advertising standards for reproductive centers. " In other words, those ""Pregnant? Scared? We Can Help." so called "clinics" would have to let you know up front that they are anti-abortion centers. Go here to tell your Representative to support this bill. Via Feministing .

Maybe you've all seen this already but being without TV I saw it for the first time a few nights ago. I LOVE this . I loved Macgyver - for his brains and his hunkiness. (If you hadn't figured it out yet I have a thing for nerds. Friendster Guy has MacGyver tendencies and they are A-OK with me. Plus he's pretty hunky himself.) Having nerd tendences myself, I was the only girl in the "MacGyver Club" in junior high. We did things like launch rockets and egg drops. Not the soup, the thing where you make something to hold an egg and then drop it off the roof hoping the egg doesn't break. Did you know that one of the reasons Richard Dean Anderson got the role of MacGyver was because he was sitting in the waiting room for the audition with his glasses on, reading. Classic Macgyver. Hmm...I should add that to my Netflix.

Shell has a well written comment on my last post re: over-eating and under-exercising. You should go check it out. (And Shell, no worries on monopolizing! Type away!) I haven't been as prolific here recently as I tend to be. I've been busy, busy, busy. Between dog/house/child sitting for a couple of friends, a wedding, my niece's first dance recital (TOO CUTE!!! You just wanna squeeze her to death. Note: I am not advocating killing small children.) and softball I haven't had time to even go to my apartment. I am in desperate need of clean clothes. But they will have to wait until tomorrow because my evening is already booked. Oh, and I've also been busy because I have been trying desperately to tie up loose ends before I start my NEW JOB! That's right, I haven't blogged about it but I applied for and have now accepted a new job at my current place of employment. I am getting a promotion, a significant raise (whoohoo!) and I will be moving from the corporate

I was trolling the internet for information on High Fructose Corn Syrup in order to scare, educate, or inspire myself enough to want to avoid products with it in them when I came across this site: Obesity Myths . This is a dangerous website because it tells people what they want to hear - obesity isn't that bad and you should eat what you want. Digging not even that deeply - it was just a matter of clicking on the "About Us" link - I discovered that this website is brought to us by the Center for Consumer Freedom , " a nonprofit coalition of restaurants, food companies, and consumers working together to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices. The growing cabal of "food cops," health care enforcers, militant activists, meddling bureaucrats, and violent radicals who think they know "what's best for you" are pushing against our basic freedoms. We're here to push back. Consumer freedom is the right of adults and parents t

I missed that my last post was my 300th! Holy Moses. In celebration, here's a list of 100 plus free(ish) things that make me happy. Feel free to add more in the comments. I'd love to collect 1000! 1) sleeping in my own bed after a trip 2) lazy Saturdays 3) Having organized closets 4) meeting new people 5) reconnecting with people I already know 6) trying new things 7) making people smile 8) making people laugh 9) inside jokes 10) being with my 3.5 year old niece. 11) unsolicited hugs from my niece 12) connecting with a child 13) playing hookie from work for an hour 14) my flowers actually growing 15) getting things done before the deadline 16) getting compliments from an ex-boyfriend who is an ex because he gave me the opposite of compliments while we were going out. 17) Mangos 18) seeing grown men act like kids (not adolescents) – i.e. getting all excited about something from their youth 19) Browsing in stores with artistic tchotchkies 20) Mocha lattes (ok, not quite free but

Inspired partly by this article sent to me by Dr. Nik , I'd like to talk to you today about consumerism and credit. I have a friend who is doing everything right. He's got money in the bank. He has no credit card debt. He paid for his car in cash. He doesn't have any student loans. Summing up: he has no debt, a good amount of savings, and spends money wisely. And yet, he is probably going to have a hard time using that savings as a down payment for a house because he has no credit. He doesn't have bad credit, he just has nothing that the "they" in "They didn't approve my mortgage loan" can look to and say, "He's an ok credit risk. Let's make him pay interest for the next 30 years." On the other hand you have me. I have great credit. Superb credit. (I've always been an overachiever.) This is due mainly because I have debt, but I manage it well. I always make payments on time and I also continue to get more and different debt

I found a post at Some Girl through my friend Jennifer talking about said Jennifer's limerence . I had never heard that term before. The best definition I could find (besides as described by Some Girl) is the "emotional excitement of being in love". I think the slang term would be Smitten. Glowing. Head over heels. Over the moon. Etc. Etc. Etc. It's comforting on some level to know that the reason you are acting all crazy has been defined. Granted there are several psychological issues that have been defined that I would not like to find myself acting out. Psychopathic being one of them. Delusional being another. Bruce Lee said "Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable."* I like this analogy. (Have I mentioned I like analogies? I believe I have. I really lik

Relationships are hard. For one, to make them work you actually have to talk to another human being. And what's more, they have to respond. And there are all sorts of emotions and baggage to wade through in that conversation - sadness, anger, defensiveness, fear, paranoia. In my marriage, I didn't have a lot of conversations. I may have mentioned previously that I used to consider myself a non-cryer. I never cried. I'd like to amend that statement. I was a cryer who never faced anything that would make her cry. If I was upset I would bottle it up. I wouldn't discuss it with my X because that would lead to tears and tears were a sign of weakness. Or so I thought. Well, no more. Poor Friendster Guy gets the new Sassy Pants. The woman who has shed more tears in the last 6 months than in the last six years. But it's a good thing. Obviously my avoidance of confronting issues head on did not exactly lead to a happy and long lasting marriage. I've learned something fro

What's frightening is that I don't think there is anything wrong with this. Except maybe the plastic.

I stole this from an email a friend sent me. It started with a whole bunch of blather about this being Dr. Phil's test. I could care less. In fact, I wanted to dismiss it simply for that reason. And yet, I took it. It's only 10 questions after all. And it turned out to be pretty on the nose. I've put the results list in the comments so it won't ruin the surprise. "This is a real test given by the Human Relations Dept. at many of the major corporations today. It helps them get better insight concerning their employees and prospective employees. It's only 10 simple questions, so grab a pencil and paper, keeping track of your letter answers to each question. 1. When do you feel your best? a) in the morning b) during the afternoon &and early evening c) late at night 2. You usually walk... a) fairly fast, with long steps b) fairly fast, with little steps c) less fast head up, looking the world in the face d) less fast, head down e) very slowly 3. When talking to

Thanks Naked under my Lab Coat for the link.

I paid off my credit cards this weekend! Whoop! In other news, check out the comment section of my last post. I pretty much wrote another post responding to some comments there.

Former Evangelical preacher Lee Salisbury writes an article about the extremes to which woman are forced to be incubators, calling the U.S. a "Pro-Life Police State". A woman was jailed and charged with first degree murder after she delayed having a C-section which doctors say would have probably saved one of the twins if she had had it sooner. As Salisbury writes, "No court has ever ruled that one person can be forcibly operated on for the benefit of another. The law cannot demand that you give up your kidney or bone marrow or even blood to save another life. Nor does it charge you with murder if you refuse. Yet, only a pregnant woman loses the right to question doctor’s recommendation." Taking it a step further, could we get fined or jailed for not taking our folic acid? Will people be performing citizens arrests if they see a pregnant lady eating a deli sandwich ? Where will it stop? If we're all incubators will we be forced into pregnancy? Especially those w

The same day, no, the same MORNING, that I decide to try Splenda in my tea instead of real sugar my office goes ahead and starts to stock Sugar in the Raw . I love that stuff! How's a girl supposed to get ahead I ask you? How?

Ok dear readers, I know you are pretty much on the same side of the fence with me on these issues - or at least I haven't heard from you if you aren't - so this is preaching to the choir. But preach I must because sometimes the choir needs a reason to shout Alleluiah! Amen! Brothers and sisters I called you here today to talk about cause and effect. That's right, I said cause and effect. Every child learns early in life that if you do something wrong, you get in trouble for it. This is not a foreign concept. Ask any three year old; they know that if they don't stop doing what they are doing by the time Mom or Dad counts to three something is going to happen. They still may not listen but they get the idea. (Now, men don't officially learn this until they are around 21 or so. This is a scientific fact. It has to do with brain chemistry. But for the sake of argument we are going to assume everyone is on the same page.) So, cause and effect: you do one thing, something

Tomorrow is the 41st anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut , "which established constitutional privacy protection for married couples' use of contraception. The case paved the way for Supreme Court decisions extending the right to use contraception to unmarried women in 1972, and expanding privacy rights to encompass abortion in 1973. More recently, the court relied on Griswold in deciding Lawrence v. Texas, which protects the right to consensual homosexual sex." Feministing posts links to NARAL information on how to make sure conservative pharmacists don't get to do an end run around the law. Here's a link to the pdf of the above image. Given that my father is a pharmacist the imagery is particularly icky; however, he would never dream of preventing any woman from getting their birth control. After all, he's the one who told me I could sow my wild oats, just not plant any seeds. Um, yeah, thanks Dad.

Apparently today is about surveys. This one I got via Not My Spot . I fall right smack dab onto Hillary Clinton's face on their home page. Wait, that doesn't sound so good. My little "You" circle covered her face when I got the results (They don't include that graphic in the html you can copy and paste into your blog). The circle covered her face so much that I couldn't tell who it was until I went back to the original picture. You are a Social Liberal (73% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (21% permissive) You are best described as a: Strong Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

I don't know if I hide this well or not in my adulthood, but the below description is spot on. Only replace computer lab with band room. Brainy Kid In high school, you were acing AP classes or hanging out in the computer lab. You may have been a bit of a geek back then, but now you're a total success! Who Were You In High School?

Is it just me or is the whole gay marriage amendment broohaha a way to scapegoat homosexuals for all the supposed ills we are experiencing in the U.S.? Maybe I'm stretching (God, I hope I'm stretching) but didn't Germany do this in the 30s? "Hey, your life sucks. Let's blame the Jews and make their lives harder." How much different is that from our conservative Christian President ignoring all the real issues and blaming the homosexuals for the destruction of family values and the institution of marriage? It's a fine line that people are walking. What comes next in the wake of conservative Christian priviledge? I'm 100% certain that homosexuals did not lead to my divorce. (Unless of course my X turns out to be gay and then alleluia!) My friends' and parents' divorces did not lead to my divorce. My friends' and family's marriages did not make my domestic bliss any more or less blissful. Pretty much, one has nothing to do with the other.

Not only is today 6/6/06 (Ah! Satan! We're all doomed!) but it is Sylvester Stallone's 60th birthday. If that doesn't mean the end of the world is coming I think this does - according to Internet Movie Database not only is there a new Rocky coming out in 2006 but there is a new Rambo coming out in 2007! I can see it now... Rocky, now suffering from several syndromes and issues brought on by getting punched in the head innumerable times, fights his way through the new Medicare prescription drug packages. Rambo returns to Vietnam to open up a swank gambling casino for retired vets who want to relive the good times they keep experiencing via traumatic flashbacks. Rambo says, "Hey, if they're coming back in their minds anyway, they might as well come back for real and drop some cash." Maybe this is a flaw of my upbringing but despite having grown up in the 70s-80s I have never seen any of those movies. I don't know if I need to start now. Happy Hell Day!

I ran and finished a half-marathon yesterday! Yeah! Go me! Huzzah! In 2 hours, nineteen minutes and 13 seconds. Today, I can hardly walk. Yesterday I could hardly walk either but I had to because I had a softball game. Ugh. Today I am wearing my flatest, most arch supporting (i.e. ugly) shoes, I am taking actual ibuprofen (I oddly eschew medication of all kinds so this is a big step for me), and I'm preparing to sit on my arse for most of the day. Friendster Guy and I already have a long movie picked out and as soon as I am done teaching my abs class (God help me) I am going over to his house and we're going to snuggle on the couch. Alleluiah! 5 o'clock can't get here soon enough. The race up to mile 9 wasn't too bad, except my knee started hurting around mile 2 which sucked because I was hoping to get to at least mile 5 before the pain started. When I hit mile nine I made a mental note, "This is now my longest run ever." and celebrated the fact that I onl

Now that summer reading season is upon us I thought I'd mix my love of reading with my penchant for subtle, private protest by sharing a list of the 100 most frequently challenged (i.e. people tried to ban them) books from 1990-2000, courtesy of the American Library Association . According to the ALA: Between 1990 and 2000, of the 6,364 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom (see The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books ): 1,607 were challenges to “sexually explicit” material (up 161 since 1999); 1,427 to material considered to use “offensive language”; (up 165 since 1999) 1,256 to material considered “unsuited to age group”; (up 89 since 1999) 842 to material with an “occult theme or promoting the occult or Satanism,”; (up 69 since 1999) 737 to material considered to be “violent”; (up 107 since 1999) 515 to material with a homosexual theme or “promoting homosexuality,” (up 18 since 1999) and 419 to material “promoting a religious viewpoint.” (up

hilllady posted a comment regarding my weight loss goal a post or so back. She said... "Would it upset you if I point out that you look mahvelous, dahling? Seriously: thinner, healthier, happier than I've ever seen you. What's the obsession with a little arrow on a scale?" First, if anyone is upset when someone tells them they look "mahvelous" they should probably have their head examined and their self-esteem plumped up a little. So thanks HillLady. As a matter of fact I feel "mahvelous" as well. And I am thinner, healthier and happier than I've been in a long time. However. The bad answer to the question, "What's the obsession with a little arrow on a scale?" would be: That's what we do , isn't it? Obsess about the number on the scale? The true answer is that it is less about the number than about the body shape that seems to come with the number. Every morning I can tell if I've gained or lost a pound simply by run