You Must Take Your Seats, We're Landing!!!!

I was in Orlando, FL, last week for a conference. Taking a flight to and from Orlando is hardly ever a fun trip. Planes to that airport are generally filled with children. Children who are excited about going to see Mickey. Children who have never flown before or babies that cry throughout the flight. Flights coming home are filled with tired children and families who have brought back way too many souviners and parents who are exhausted.

I changed my seat when I printed out my boarding pass for the trip down. I changed to the exit row as it appeared to be an empty row. And, it was until a man came up while we were boarding and decided to sit there until someone else came along. This plane had an extra row of legroom at the exit row so I know why he chose to sit there. I didn't really mind, but I am hoping the flight attendants didn't think I was with him. During the flight, he ate a bag of those individually wrapped miniature candy bars. As he unwrapped each piece, he dropped the wrapper on the floor and eventually the bag followed suit. The flight attendant asked him 2 or 3 times if he had any trash he wanted to throw away, like his newspaper, and he refused. He never read it again but he left it on the seat beside him as well as a trail of candy wrappers when he left the plane.

The center lavatory was near my seat and it saw pretty constant use. I fly at least 5-6 times a year, some years more, and I have never seen the bathroom events I saw on this trip. Apparently very few of the people on this plane knew that when you went into the bathroom and locked the door, the light above the door turned red. Many people tried to push open the locked door and were confused as to why they couldn't get the door open.

And, at least five people didn't know you were supposed to lock the door. One mother took her child to the bathroom and didn't have her lock the door. The mother stood guard outside the door, until I guess, she got bored and she went about four seats up and started looking thru the overhead compartment. When a man brushed past her to go down the aisle, she suddenly realized he might be going to use the bathroom. She goes tearing down the aisle after him trying to reach the door first, reaching over his shoulder to try and keep the door from being opened.

At one point in the flight, there were probably ten people lined up by the bathroom area (in my exit row). One guy, I thought, must have been drunk as he seemed rather unsteady on his feet. We hit turbulence around then and I thought he might land in my lap. As he turned around again, I realized he had a prosthetic leg which may have accounted for his unsteadiness. Although I later learned he was having an active, loud conversation with a woman two rows ahead of him and he was drunk. (I had a friend who was sitting near him on the plane.) At a later point in time, he returned for a second visit to the bathroom and also did not lock the door. A young boy came down the aisle and opened the bathroom door on him, looked inside for a while, and then shut the door. I only hope he had his back to the door.

We then approached Orlando and began our landing descent. While we were coming down, a woman and her child got up and went to the bathroom. Again, the mother did not lock the door and kept it partially open. Her child is in the bathroom. The flight attendent starts yelling over the intercom, "You must take your seats. We are landing!" The mother tells the child to hurry up and go. The flight attendant again, says, "You need to take your seats!" Finally, before we touched down on the runway, the mother and child returned to their seats. We were not that far off the ground - I was wondering if the pilot would abort the landing because they were not in their seats.

While taxing to the gate, again, a child got up and went to the bathroom. Again, the flight attendant told him to return to his seat. Again, he ignored her.

Can't Get No Recognition

I saw Eric Clapton last Tuesday at a private corporate concert. It was an awesome show that got better as the night went on. He played for two hours without hardly any break between songs - the band transitioned from one song to another seamlessly.

Chris Stainton on the keyboards was exceptional and the band provided him many solo opportunities, as they did Doyle Bramhall II on guitar. He didn't play many of his classics until the end. The crowd was so involved when he played the song "Cocaine" - Clapton actually laughed at the first refrain of Cocaine as the audience just screamed along with him.

I was only disappointed in that they gave no attention to Pino Palladino - I don't think he even introduced him, although he introduced the other band members as they did solos. I had heard Pino was playing with Clapton but I wasn't even sure he was on stage until about 3/4s of the way thru the concert. From where I was sitting I couldn't see him, and they didn't show him on the video screens until a brief shot appeared after the midpoint of the concert. Clapton and Doyle did some acoustic songs about mid-way thru the show sitting down on stage together. They really seemed to enjoy themselves during the show. The entire band did - they seemed to have a great time playing together. Although, they only did a 1-song encore even though the audience was screaming for more.

My only other disappointment with the show was that I had a reserved seat up close to the stage but due to some communication issues, I didn't find out about it until the next day. So a great seat went empty and I didn't like where I ended up sitting. But I could hear just fine, so I guess all was well!

Another Bird's Nest

Did yard work today and was in the process of cutting down a tree that had fallen over. I have two evergreen trees, one on either side of my deck. One fell over and I arranged for a tree service to put it back up. They did and right after that, the other fell over. The one that had been replaced is not looking so good, so I've decided to cut them both down. As I was cutting branches off the tree, I found a bird's nest with two eggs in it.

On a side note, I notice I've been getting a tremendous number of hits on blog. The majority of them are from google - people from all over the world looking for "bird's nest." Here's another picture for them. The eggs from last year's nest were destroyed, probably by a cat. Hopefully, this year will be a better year.

Upcoming Concerts

Early May, I'm going to the SAP and ASUG conferences in Orlando - Eric Clapton will be the entertainment at the conference. Am looking forward to that.

In July, I'll be heading (hopefully) to LA to spend some time with my sister, see some west coast bloggers and go to the VH1 Rock Honors concert honoring the Who. Any other bloggers heading west for the concert? Am hoping that Rachel might do something while they are out there.

A Taxing Season

Hope you all have your taxes done! I did mine late for me, but federal and state for myself and my daughter were sent in last month. Still need to do my local taxes, but they generally get done the day or two before the deadline. So, I'll do them this weekend. I'm one of those who overpays the government each year so I get a refund back. I know I should just bank that money throughout the year rather than "lending" it to the government, but I know if I have it, I'm not that likely to save it anyway, so...

So much uncertainty in the economy these days, and I see it first hand in my work at my church. Not to give you the impression that I spend all my time doing charitable work, I could do far more than I am doing now. But as I've mentioned before, I serve breakfast once a month at a local city church. The number of families with children coming to that breakfast is increasing all the time. Now, it's not mostly men with some occasional women, we are seeing more and more families coming to the breakfast. We ran out of food this month - including cereal which we usually have plenty of leftover. We kept making pancakes until everyone got at least something, but we ran out of eggs, sausage, milk, juice and cereal. Food bank contributions are down and the number of recipients has increased. I notice we get less from the local stores in terms of food donations, like juice, bread and pastries. We used to fill a long table with loaves of bread and rolls that grocery stores gave us - you know, the day old bread they would probably throw away.

As I pay attention to the presidential election, I was shocked to learn that Obama and his wife give very little to charity. Maybe, to give them the benefit of the doubt, they didn't claim their donations, but I find it intriguing that their charitable giving ratio went up around the time he started his presidential bid. Personally, however, I think, he's been planning this bid for years, probably since his college years. The more I learn about his history, the less it matches his public speeches. Some of us are ambitious and I don't necessarily hold it against him, but it does conflict with his public statements. I find it amusing that many of his re-interpretations of his past are not pounced upon with the same glee that Clinton's re-interpretations cause. The Bosnia trip is an example and there is no excuse for her re-interpretation of that event. In some ways, though, I find that more acceptable as I know she is going to do things like that, but I also think she has the knowledge and the attention to details and can make more changes than he can. Maybe it's the fact that she doesn't claim to be as virtuous as he does.

But in general, I find it very intriguing how much people give to charity. It is always surprising to me that the poor give far more in percentage of income to charity than the middle-class or the wealthy. And I was shocked to learn this about a man that I personally find accountable for many of the poor decisions made by the US government in the last 8 years: Dick Cheney and his wife gave 78% of their income to charity in 2005. They made $8.8 million from book royalties and investment income and donated $6.9 million to charity.

I got this information from a tax blog:

This time next week, I'll be sitting on the beach. Can't wait to lay there and listen to the waves come crashing in. Speaking of the wealthy, this is a resort that I wouldn't be able to afford to go to on my own. They rent the cabanas on the beach there for $1000/day. But I'm going with a friend who won a 4-day trip as a sales reward. The ocean always rejuvenates me and after this year, it will be a welcome time away. Am going to be sorry to leave after only 4 days, I know!

Not So Conservative

Was talking to my new manager today. I was telling him about my Who/Fuller mania and the concerts I've gone to over the past two years. Don't remember how the conversation came up, but he was very surprised. Somehow, he had the idea I was super conservative and all into work. I don't know how he got that idea as my road trips are fairly common knowledge. I have one of my Who backstage passes on my desk next to a Who ticket. But, we're still getting to know each other.

I am hoping to get out to another Who concert in July - the VH1 Rock Honors concert in Los Angeles. A bunch of bloggers are also planning on going so it should be a great time. If any one is planning on going, let me know. I'll spend some time with my sister as well.

I am also going to Florida week after next for a 4-day getaway. A friend of mine won a sales trip at the Breakers in Palm Beach. I think the time away will be way too short, but I'm anxious to see the ocean again. I find it very renewing to sit on the beach, watch the waves and hear the sound of them rolling into shore. I can't wait to go walking in the wet sand, wading in the waves.

March 19 - Fifth Anniversary

United Church of Christ 100,000 Lights for Peace

IN THE MORNING
Light a candle and begin the day with a Prayer of Lament, based on Psalm 130 and the UCC’s Pastoral Letter on the War in Iraq.

AT NOON
Take action for peace. Be a light for peace, and light up the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask to speak to your elected Members of Congress. A Meditation for Mid-Day Action is provided to undergird your spirited witness for:
- an end to the war in Iraq;
- greater responsiveness to the needs of returning soldiers and their families;
- greater U.S. aid for Iraqi refugees and others displaced by the fighting and bloodshed.

AT EVENING TIME
Join others for a candlelight vigil and tolling of church bells. “Open the way to peace in Iraq” will be our shared petition in our Evening Prayer of Hope.

Zero Tolerance

At a local high school, a teenage boy wore a t-shirt to school that showed a picture of a gun and words to the effect that he was a licensed terrorist hunter. He was suspended and his parents are suing the school for freedom of speech.

One of my son's friends had a pocket knife in his backpack that his cousin had put there. He was caught trying to throw it away and was suspended.

Another boy in a neighboring elementary school threatened to stab his teacher with a pencil. He was suspended.

There is a boy in my son's school. A very troubled boy who alternates between being an average kid and an extreme bully. He scares me at times and I am strongly disappointed in his parents. My son overheard this boy calling some children of color the N-word. He went up to this boy and told him that it was inappropriate to do that and that he shouldn't do it anymore. Some of the teachers found out about it and asked the kids what happened. My son told the truth, as did some others.

Later, the boy ranted at the other kids for telling the teachers what happened. He told my son and the black and Puerto Rican kids to stay 10 feet away from him at all times or he would bring his gun to school and kill them all. And, from talking to a child who has slept over at his house, the boy does have access to a gun at home.

Nothing has happened. I've talked to the principal twice as has another parent. He told that parent that there were no witnesses and it was the boy vs. the two children of color and they were unreliable because they have lied in the past. He has never spoken to my son although he better tomorrow. He said he hadn't talked to my son because the teachers had told him it had been resolved. To me, he said that he was taking action, but needed to maintain privacy out of respect for the boy and his parents. I hope he has taken action, but the parents of the boy refuse to believe anything bad about their child and in many ways, I think the father encourages his son's behavior. I'm also upset that they told the kids not to tell their parents about the incidents because they hadn't been verified yet.

I don't necessarily want this boy suspended. I want him to be given help and counseling. He is a ticking timebomb - the kind of boy that shoots up his high school for past grievances. I'd like to think it is not too late to help him, but I am not sure he will get the help he needs.

I am very proud of my son for sticking up for what is right. He could have looked the other way and done nothing. Others probably did. I've told him how proud I am of him and he's seen all the emails I have sent to the school. He is worried about having to talk to the principal and having the boy find out about it.

I thought with this new principal that things would be different at his school. The last principal did not like children - it was very obvious - and the kids would come home and talk about how racist she was. From the very early grades, my son and his friends, mostly white, would come home and talk about how if a white kid does something, they don't get in trouble, but if a black kid does the same thing, they lose recess or other privileges.

There was some incidents with the old principal where she thought the kids were being too loud at lunchtime, so she would make the kids put their heads down and stop eating as punishment. Some of the kids didn't get to eat depending on when they got to the table. I wrote letters of complaint, called the superintendent of the elementary schools and was told by the superintendent and the principal, that the kids made it all up and were lying. I asked them how all these children, and I talked to many of them at football practice, would independently tell me the same story, consistently the same story, could be liars. They swore they investigated and no adult who was present would collaborate the story. I told my son if he wasn't finished eating his lunch, he had my permission to eat his lunch and not put his head down. After I and others complained, they stopped that practice though so he was luckily never put to that test.

The new principal likes children and I was hoping that he would make positive changes. Until this incident, I thought he had been. And, maybe he is, maybe he is doing something to help this boy, but the different explanations to the other parent and to myself give me reason to doubt.

Happy Birthday, Jon Bon Jovi

Even though I wasn't feeling all that great, yet, I went to the Bon Jovi concert in Philadelphia last Sunday. It was a great show and Daughtry was the opening act. I hadn't done any research on the concert so was surprised who was opening. Also didn't realize until our drive down there, that it was Jon's birthday that day.

On the way to the concert, I felt really bad and was tempted to say turn around and take me home and then go on by yourself. But, once the music started, I forgot about how I felt and had a great time. I've liked Bon Jovi's music but don't have any of their albums and haven't been a major follower of their music. But I saw them perform at LiveEarth and thought they were great. So, when I saw their tour was going thru Philadelphia, I bought some tickets.

Our seats were actually behind the stage, but both Daughtry and Bon Jovi remembered we were back there and played to us for a great part of the show. I really liked how Jon mingled with his audience members. He constantly reached out to them from the stage and halfway thru the show, he disappeared from the stage during a song that Richie Sambora took the lead. He reappeared in the middle of the audience and sang two songs from the back of the Wachovia center, dancing with one lucky fan he picked from the audience. While surrounded by security, he made his way back to the stage, still shaking hands and hugging audience members.

Chris Daughtry also came up in the middle of the concert and sang a song with Jon. Of course, near the end of the concert, before the encore, the audience sang Happy Birthday to Jon - twice actually. The Philadelphia Soul team and cheerleaders came out on stage for the birthday song complete with a cake.

Afterwards, as I look at the band's website, I'm pleased to see that the set design was created by a company local to my area.

http://www6.islandrecords.com/bonjovi/blog.php?uf_item_id=1-104867&uf_system_id=0

I took some pictures with my binoculars which have a digital camera inside them. Most of them did not turn out as they don't do too well with motion and no one on stage stayed still very long. Reading the comments on the band's website, I picked one of the better nights of the concert tour so far.

Here is a copy of the setlist. Unlike some other bands, they mix it up for different nights. This is what they played last Sunday night.

LOST HIGHWAY

BAD NAME

RAISE YOUR HANDS

RUNAWAY

BOUNCE

SLEEP w/ Dancin' In The Street & Jumpin' Jack Flash

BLOOD ON BLOOD

IN THESE ARMS

BLAZE OF GLORY (w/ Daughtry) w/ Knockin' On Heaven's Door intro

WHOLE LOT OF LEAVIN'

BORN TO BE MY BABY

WE GOT IT GOIN' ON

IT'S MY LIFE

BAD MEDICINE w/ Shout

I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU - RICHIE VOX

(YOU WANT TO) MAKE A MEMORY

BED OF ROSES

WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME

HAVE A NICE DAY

FAITH

PRAYER

ENCORE:

OLDER

WANTED

I LOVE THIS TOWN

Not Tonight, Dear, I Have a Headache

I've been having severe headaches since mid-December. The doctor thought it was a sinus infection, but after two bouts of antibiotics with no relief, he sent me for a CT scan. No infection, so he sent me to an ENT. The specialist said I have a deviated septum and he thinks the headaches are caused by the sinus membrane touching the septum triggering the headache. The sinus medicine helps only because it shrinks the membrane, not because I really have sinus congestion.

I've always had problems with sinus headaches, but this has really gotten to be a major issue for me. I think it has as much to do with the deviated septum as it does with my thyroid levels. I had my thyroid taken out in high school. Took the same dose of replacement hormone until a few months ago when my doctor lowered my dosage. Now, I am in the low range of normal, but I'm having symptoms like really dry skin. During my research on the deviated septum, I found internet reports that lower levels of thyroid hormone can cause swelling in the sinus tissues. Now, I'm thinking that my past sinus problems were due to the deviated septum, but the recent long-running bout of headaches is really caused by my thryoid level. So far my doctor is resistent to increasing my dosage. Have another appointment with him tomorrow so am planning on pushing the issue further.

Surgery is scheduled for Feb 25 and I plan on going ahead with it. But, unlike all those other celebrities who have a new nose after their surgery for a "deviated septum", my surgeon says the outside of the nose looks unchanged after this type of surgery.

Great news is that my sister and her boyfriend narrowly escaped a tornado in the rash of tornado strikes this weekend. They were shopping at a Walmart and went home when the sirens went off. The tornado hit the Walmart, but her neighborhood and her house were not within its path. She doesn't have power or her phone, but she's safe and her family is safe!

Some Time in New Brunswick

Had to spend the week in New Brunswick attending a management training course. The class was good even though it was a lot of topics I've had training on before - you know, we all have different personality styles and we need to manage and interact accordingly and not negatively judge someone who has a different style than yourself. But the best part of these classes is that you get to meet other managers from sister companies all over the country and exchange stories and information. This class bonded very well and I hope to stay in touch with many of the people I met this week.








A highlight of the week was that Wednesday night we went out for dinner to Makeda, an Ethiopian restaurant. Colleen and I had planned to get together ourselves Wed, but instead she joined us as a group. We had a great time.


Most of us had never had Ethiopian food. Makeda is supposed to be one of the top ten restaurants in NJ. It was very good. Here is a URL to tell you more about it if you are interested in it. http://www.ardore.com/listing.asp?r=makeda12 I do have to caution you, however, that two people in our party, the same two people who shared a dish, were very sick on Thursday and while we were out drinking that night and didn't get back to the hotel until 1:30 am, we didn't attribute it to a hangover. However, it could have been the alcohol.


The atmosphere of the restaurant was very intimate, and while crowded for a Wednesday night, it was not too crowded to interfere with our conversations and enjoyment. After dinner, we went on what was advertised as a pub crawl. Unfortunately, there weren't too many pubs to choose from and we only went to two bars, one of them twice. One bar had a DJ and the other a band. I preferred the one with the band. Although we danced at the bar with the DJ and didn't dance much with the band. Part of that was the style of music as well as having the room to dance.

Interesting to see the South Carolina results come back tonight. Although it can be rather alarming to listen to the press babble about what all this means. They change their stories frequently, it seems, to make the story more dramatic. The other day, their story was that Hilary was going to lose SC and had in fact, basically abandoned that state to focus on the Feb 4 multi-state (20) primary. Today, it is the death of her campaign because she came in second place. And it is fascinating to see how they pick one snippet of a statement and frame the story one way, and then someone else will use the other part of that statement and frame a totally different argument. And, most people who are voting don't seem to pay much attention to their choice in terms of researching their position or candidate. That is, unless, you are in Iowa and had the chance to have coffee with the candidates or even have them in your home campaigning to others. Here in PA, it will be decided already by the time they get here in April. I'm still torn as to who I will vote for in the presidential election, but since I haven't changed my party, I'll have to vote Republican so I'll probably vote for McCain in the primary. My area is predominantly Republican so I stay a registered Republican so when I write to my representatives, I figure they'll pay more attention to my opinion. If I was a Democrat, I think they would just ignore me completely. I'd rather be an Independent since I never vote straight party but Pennsylvania does not allow Independents to vote in primary elections.

Rank the Candidates

I was very surprised by the candidates that came up on the top of my list.....


This is a short 11 question quiz that ranks the candidates by how much you agree with their stances.

http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

Homeless Breakfast

I think I've mentioned before that I help serve a breakfast ministry the first Saturday of every month. This month, the person who does the eggs wasn't there so I scrambled and cooked 36 dozen eggs. We had a full crowd this time, serving over 236 people before our counter lost count of the people there. We serve eggs, pancakes, sausages, donuts, cereal, coffee and orange juice. And, we try and gather the baked goods from local grocery stores that would otherwise be thrown away and put that out for them with them.

Not everyone is homeless. I think many of the people there are stretching their food stamps or their budgets. You can tell the ones that seem to be really homeless by the number of clothes they are wearing and if they are carrying stuff with them. You get to know some of them, the ones who are there every month. There is a man in his 40s who tells me every month, how many months he's been clean, and how he won't use anymore because he's been clean now for 13 months and he would have to start counting all over again. This month, he told me he really wanted to go to an NA meeting that day, but the location is in a bad neighborhood for him - one he used to go to to score drugs and he would run into too many former acquaintances who would try and lure him back into drugs. He was going to try and find someone to go with him who could help keep him strong.

There is a woman who is usually there every month. She wasn't there this time. It made me wonder where she was - was she ok? Did she just skip that day? Did she move or find another job? She had been employed by the city school district, but was let go because they didn't think she was efficient enough.

It was sad to see how many children that were there this month. Usually there are a couple, but this month, there were probably over 20 kids there, ranging in age from infants to pre-teenagers. I was wondering if maybe the parents spent money on Christmas presents that left them short in January for their grocery budgets. Or is this the start of a worsening trend in the local economy.

Five Balls

Work is changing from one day to another and it is stressful. Tonight, around 8 pm, I got a phone call that things have changed again. This time the pendulum has swung to the positive side. But I've decided it's probably not a good idea to blog about work and the transitions. Nothing on the internet is private and could be dangerous career-wise.

But someone sent me this today - someone who didn't know about what was going on. Things happen like that if you pay attention; when you need a message, it comes to you.

From the book "Suzanne's Diary to Nicholas" by James Patterson

Five Balls
Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - Work - Family - Health - Friends - Spirit, and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls -- family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life. How?

1. Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

2. Don't set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

3. Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

4. Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live ALL the days of your life.

5. Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

6. Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us together.

7. Don't be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

8. Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

9. Don't run through life so fast that you forget not only where you've been, but also where you are going.

10. Don't forget that a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

11. Don't be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.

12. Don't use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved.

Crazed Cleaning Woman

Christmas was very nice this year. Both kids were thrilled with their gifts. Jason's were mostly Playstation 3 related. He also liked his skateboard - a pretty cool one that I picked out for him - had to pick the board, the trucks, the bearings, the wheels and a bunch of other parts I can't describe to you. A 20-year old skater dude told me what size board to get, but the rest I did myself (although he did put it all together for me!) Jason is a little upset that I won't let him use it unless he has his helmet on, but that's life. ;-)

Sam, being in college, got a laptop as her big gift. I am so proud of her - she barely made it through high school, but earned a 3.75 in her first semester of college. Don't see her much these days as her other friends are home for semester break and she is hanging out with them as well as working.

My job is really stressing me out. I'm probably worrying more than I should about, but I even dream about it at night. Need to take a yoga class or something. Was talking to one of the guys in NJ who is working on a project with me. He was taken out of the office the other day on a stretcher because he had chest pains - turned out not to be cardiac-related, but probably just stress the doctor said. We talked about how we should just try and relax and go with the flow because there is nothing we can really do about it anyway.

So, what can I control? My surroundings - so I am cleaning out everything this week. I'm going to start the New Year with a clean and organized house. So far, today, I've done the computer desk, kitchen junk cabinet, the oven, one bathroom, two closets and a general clean-up of the kitchen. I think I've mentioned before I can be a bit of a packrat. People say my house is clean, but I'm finding things that should have been thrown away a long time ago - medication that is outdated, toddler aged computer games, even set-up CDs for the computer I had years ago.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Christmas Traditions

When my ex-husband and I were together, we at first tried to keep both sides of the family happy for holidays. That meant we would drive 3 hours to his mom's house and have Thanksgiving and/or Christmas there and then drive back home to my mom's house and do it again. Of course, that meant that Santa also made the dual visits which got trickier as the kids got older.

We eventually stopped the dual Christmas visits, but kept up the dual Thanksgivings until we divorced. When we separated and during the first few Christmas' after our divorce, I offered to let my ex sleep on the couch so he would be there Christmas morning. I have full custody so don't have to worry about splitting or alternating holidays if I don't want to. As I look at other people's custody arrangements, I am glad that one, I have full custody, and two, that my ex and I have kept things very positive for the kids. I see so many parents fighting over their kids and making everyone's life miserable.

My ex never did take me up on that offer, but he would generally come over around 6 am and make coffee and anxiously wait for the kids to wake up. Most years, we had to wake the kids up although there was the one year, they woke up at 2 am and refused to go back to sleep until I let them open presents at 4:30 am. When the kids woke up, they opened their stockings and waited for their grandmother to drive over to watch them open their presents.

The year before last, my ex asked for the children on Christmas. He had asked for them the year before, but the kids didn't want to go with him. This year, he asked for them again and they decided to sleep over there and then come to my house in the morning. I was instructed to stay in bed until they got there and woke me up.

Last year, we went to the Pittsburgh Steelers game on Christmas Eve. We went out the day before the game and spent the night in Pittsburgh. We watched the game, had a great time, and then drove home Christmas Eve. That year didn't quite feel like Christmas as we changed our traditions that year.

This year, my ex and I have bought some shared presents and also built on each other's presents. So my son can't open my gifts until he opens his father's. My daughter can't open her gifts from her dad and some of my gifts until she opens the shared gift we bought her. So, this afternoon, I took all the presents and stockings over to my ex's house. After church tonight, I will drop the kids off at my ex's house where they will spend the night. In the morning, they will call me when they wake up and I will drive over there to watch them open their presents. My mom will not be with us this year as she has gone to California to visit my sister and niece for Christmas. Again, Christmas won't feel quite the same. But we are all well and happy so we will have a great time regardless.

Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy New Year!

Forecasting

Predicting the future doesn't seem very easy these days. Week before last, the weather forecaster predicted a dusting of snow for our area - we got 3". I was the carpool driver that day. The turnpike was ok, but the main highway I take to get to the turnpike was miserable. Lots of cars were sitting in the grassy median, rather topsy turvy as they slid off the road.

This week, I was also the carpool driver, on a day when they were predicting freezing rain and terrible conditions. I had chosen that day as I had a farewell luncheon to go to. Turns out the woman of honor didn't come in that day as her child was sick. Also turns out that the weather forecaster got it wrong again - just rain, not cold enough to freeze the road, although there was ice on the trees.

Took a vacation day Monday to finish (start) my Christmas shopping. Didn't pick a good day as I see meetings are being scheduled throughout the day to share the results of the latest reorg at work.

Also didn't predict the re-org end results very well. Was surprised to find that my boss, his boss, and the boss above him are all "impacted" by the re-org. By "impacted", I mean they no longer have jobs. The impact to me has also been surprising and perhaps, alarming. I have three new direct reports who I don't know and they are located over an hour from my home office. I lost a direct report and responsibility for that particular area. While I don't mourn that loss, it may impact the global project I was doing that I've become rather attached to - put a lot of time and effort into it, thought I was finally making some headway after some major setbacks and am reluctant to see it turned over to someone who is having difficulty completing two other global projects he is responsible for right now. I really wanted that project to succeed and will be sorry to lose control of it if that means it will not be implemented. Of course, that may just be my personal feelings of not wanting to let go of it.

My new boss is someone I already know and have worked with in the past. That is not the alarming part. The part that really concerns me is that they are breaking things into Demand and Supply. What that means for me is that Demand builds the IT applications or new functionality and hands it over to Supply to support. That may work well if Demand and Supply are tightly integrated, but the way it has been executed in the past is that Demand builds it and then throws it over the wall to Supply to fix it and keep it running. I don't want to be responsible for fixing someone else's issues or for maintaining a system to certain standards if the Build team is not also invested in those standards and levels of quality. As an FDA-regulated environment, they won't be the ones standing in front of the auditor answering the questions about how something was developed and implemented. I'll be the lucky one.

The environment I am inheriting is currently going through four main project releases. The project release was a relatively minor implementation - the Supply side had over 200 change controls submitted to fix the Demand team's incomplete or incorrect implementation in the first 8 weeks of the go-live period. Release 2 also had issues. Release 3 has been pushed back in timeline several months, but Release 4 is still "on schedule." But Release 3 and 4 will be extremely large implementations, definitely prone to difficulty in supporting them. Release 4 is officially designated as being out of design mode and already into build mode. But at the meeting I went to last week, the build team couldn't tell me how they were going to pass my company the data we get today nor could they tell me how they were going to build a data warehouse repository for the data we access today or even if they were going to do so. Yesterday, that build team insisted to our management that we had all the answers we needed to develop our own concurrent implementation team. I had to be the one raising my hand saying we didn't. The high-level PR spin for this Build project is that they are on-time, on-schedule and doing extremely well. The word on the ground is that they are struggling, throwing planned deliverables out of scope, pulling all the Release 4 resources back into Release 3, and that things are not being done correctly.

Before the re-org, in my company, I had both Demand and Supply responsibilities. In the future, I'll only have Supply and I'll have several companies to support in that area. If they execute well and we have a tightly integrated Demand/Supply, it could work. But for the five years that I have been here, we have proven execution is not necessarily where we exceed. We are known for our ability to succeed in a crisis. But crises have a way of burning you out when they become a way of life. I also want to be in a position where success is possible based on your own results and your own hard work.

Guess we'll see how it all shakes out. More news is coming out every day.

Bad Blogger

I have been too busy lately to do much fun things on the computer. To add to my overload, I just realized how close Christmas is!

The other hindrance to my blogging more regularly is that my son has found MySpace and he wants to spend all his time checking his MySpace to see what mail he's gotten and who is online. It is all the rage now with his friends. Had to kick him off the computer this evening so I could work on my church website and since I finished that up, I figured I would check out my site and some others.

We did some more downsizing at work today. I think everyone in my group was spared, except for one. I have referenced someone in the past who wasn't doing his job very well causing more work for me. I believe he was downsized today, but I am not 100% sure. One of my good friends had been hoping to get downsized and she got her wish today. She hadn't been happy with how things were going at work, particularly in her area, and she was thinking it might be better to get back into consulting and teaching. Another woman I work closely with has submitted her resignation and will be leaving at the end of the year. I will miss her, but she is going off to better things - moving to Texas and spending time with her family and maybe changing fields, from IT to perhaps Marketing. There is a mandatory meeting for us tomorrow to learn about the latest re-org in our area. They did a re-org last year but didn't get the efficiencies and synergies they thought they would, so they are re-orging their re-org. I told my VP the other day that I knew the people at the top were smart people, but I was having trouble understanding what they were trying to do and it was rather difficult at the tactical level to try and execute upon their decisions. He just laughed and said you hope they are smart people and know what they are doing.

I'm starting my New Year's resolutions early this year. I'm starting to do more for me and acting on what I say is important to me. I say I want to get in better shape. And, I say I want to play the piano better and perhaps pick up the guitar next. But I don't always make the time to exercise and practice. Now, I'm forcing myself to do both every day. I'm organizing my house better and getting rid of things that I don't use. Simplify! I'm doing more volunteer work. Next week, I'm spending the night at a overflow homeless shelter. It's at the same church where I help with the breakfast once a month. I'm starting a new worship service at my church - a praise and worship service. That will take 6-9 months to get off the ground.

Hope everyone is well. Haven't been visiting people's blogs lately. Need to do that, maybe tomorrow. And,maybe I'll start doing my Christmas cards tomorrow.....

Home For the Holidays

My family generally gets together for Thankgiving. This year, though, my brother and his family won't be coming until March. My sister from California did not come in for the holidays. My mom is going there for Christmas. So, only my sister from Alabama came up for the week with her kids. But surprising news, was that my Uncle Mike came down from Long Island for the holiday. My aunts and cousins were also there. It was a great time full of fun and laughter, and of course, football!

My Uncle Mike did well, but there was a moment at the dinner table, when it was obviously very difficult for him to breathe. My niece had accidently set the level on his oxygen bottle to the lowest setting. It is sad to see how sick he has become and I hope that he is able to get a lung transplant in time.

Went to see the movie "Dan in Real Life" on Saturday. I heard so many good things about it on Rachel's blog from some bloggers and had to see it. It was a great movie. Think it has been overlooked. Anytime I told someone I was going to see it, they said they had never heard of it. The theater was pretty empty although the rest of the theaters at the complex seemed busy.

Where Does the Time Go?

I've been so busy - some fun stuff and too much work stuff! Work is driving me absolutely insane! Too many projects, not enough resources or money or more importantly, TIME -- worse of all is the fact that we have undergone so many re-organizations in the last year, that no one knows who is doing what, who should be doing what and who now has the power. So, I spend all my time re-doing things and re-justifying my numbers and project estimates. One of my peers is not doing his job so my boss has re-allocated his work to me. I'm not sure what they are going to do to him, but I am supposed to make him feel involved while overseeing his work (ie. doing it for him) and giving final approval of his work. I told my boss I don't have time to do that, but here I am forced to do it so that the work gets done. We're going to save $15 million a year so it's not something I can let slide.

Anyway, I've been thinking about this post for a long time but haven't had time to put it in words. A few weeks ago, my daughter turned 18. I remember when I found out I was pregnant. I wasn't married and had no plans to get married, was going to school for my second degree, had my own house, a dog I had rescued who was overly aggressive to everyone but me, and I had never wanted to have children. In fact, I had been told I would find it difficult to get pregnant and that was fine with me. As the oldest of four, who babysat her sisters and brother and then babysat most of the neighborhood for pocket money, I had no desire to have children. I worked different shifts and liked to go out too much. Having a child was not in my plans.

But, when I looked at the results of the pregnancy test and I realized I was pregnant, I was so happy. I was very surprised at how happy I was. Even telling my mother, who was not happy with the news, was not difficult. And, she got over it by the time the baby was born. Naturally, she loved being a grandmother.

I had a supportive family and my mom helped me out a lot when my children were younger. Before Sam went to first grade, I lived not too far from where my mom worked so if I had to work late, she could pick her up from day care for me. I did end up marrying Sam's father when she was two, but family responsibilities were not high on his priority list. Part of the reason we didn't stay together. And, when she went to first grade, we moved to about a mile away from my mom's house. In fact, her brother was born a few weeks before Sam went into first grade. We bought a house a block from the elementary school. Sam did not like change as a child, even good changes bothered her. Right before school was to start, they found mold in the school so the kids had to be bussed to different schools. Sam was not happy about that. The first day of school, I walked her to school and while holding her brother, stood by the bus, while she cried in the window of the school bus looking like a refugee child being shipped away from her family and her village. The bus, for some reason, took over a half hour to pull away from the school. I had to stand there and wave and smile for what seemed like an eternity. Every morning, it was the same tragic scene although her teachers told me she was fine in school. Of course, when the school was cleaned up and she came back to the original school in January, she cried because she no longer took the bus to school.

I think I've done ok by Sam. She is not as independent as I would prefer, but she knows her own mind and does not bow into peer pressure. She has always gone her own way regardless of what her friends do and never participated in what she called the "drama" of high school. She knows who she is and doesn't change for anyone else. When I say she is dependent, I mean, more on me than I would prefer. But we have a very close relationship and she tells me pretty much everything, even things she thinks I will be angry about. She is still finding her own way. The girl who hated high school and barely scraped by grade-wise is getting A's in college. Yes, it is a community college and she is still living at home, but she is studying and working hard at her classes. She is also working two jobs -not saving as much as I would like - the girl likes to shop! She doesn't get that from me although I can spend money as well, but I hate going to the mall.

I look at her and I can't believe she is 18. She tells me she is not sure she is ready for the adult thing. I know she is, but I can't believe 18 years have gone past. But I would not want to relive any of those years. People tell me they wish their children were little again. I've never felt that way. I'll be 45 next month. I also don't feel like I'm that old either. Where has the time gone?