Had to change my template

I just had to change my template. It was hard to read and cluttered. I like this one much better - much cleaner, don't you think? I wish there were more choices, though. If anyone knows how to get better templates, let me know!

Are YOU bovvered?

OK, I'm totally into this whole Utube posting on my blog thing. I'm such a geek. Anyway, I HAD TO post this, one of my favorite UK comedy sketches. Yes, I grew up with morons exactly LIKE THIS!

New I.T. Procedures

I.T. Department came up with the following new procedures for dealing with those maddening printer problems. I think you too could benefit from this information -- I know I certainly have wanted to try this before!

Thumbs up for idealism

Yesterday, Democratic Presidential hopeful, John Edwards announced that, if elected to President, he would provide healthcare for all and that he would pay for this by ... wait for it ... raising taxes.

If you're in the U.S., and this is the first time you're reading this, I will give you a moment to compose yourself.



Those of you in the UK reading this, if you heard a collective intake of breath from across the pond yesterday... this was why. While the Blair government seems to add another revenue stream, unchecked, every other day, American society, government and politics operate on entirely the other end of the political spectrum. In the U.S., even those politicians on the left back away from the phrase "raising taxes" like it's a Bernard Matthews Turkey (click here, if this means no sense to you) and generally speaking, saying those very words are indeed the political kiss of death. You see, many Americans either want it all but don't want to pay for it, or don't think that its the government's repsonsibility to provide it period (which essentially amounts to the same thing - don't make me pay for it). Either way "taxes" and "raise" are two words you very rarely hear in the same sentence from a politician - at least those with high ambitions.

So, Edwards' statement sounds pretty "radical" right? Wrong! The completely non-radical thing about this announcement by Edwards is that: (a) What he is proposing is not actually a net tax increase, it's a repeal of Bush's tax breaks and that (b) he's not the only one wanting to repeal these tax breaks out of the Democratic Presidential hopefulls - he's just the only one brave enough to call it a tax increase.

Now, I've got to tell you that, while I always thought that Edwards should have been top of the ticket in the last race for the White House, my allegiences have most definitely been swinging between Hillary and Barack for the Democratic nomination. And while I admire Hillary's political savvy and Barack's charismatic, empassioned speeches, I'm also tired of hearing politicians play verbal gymnastics with words in order to avoid telling it like it is - both Hillary and Barack are adept at this in their own way.

There is nothing more frustrating than knowing that a politician shares your political ideals in principle, but when under questioning, will stop short of drawing their idealogical line in the sand, for fear of alienating this voter or that voter, or losing support from this side of their party or that side of their party. The result is that nothing of any substance ever gets said, real intentions are hidden behind clever rhetoric and ideas are put forth with fudged numbers to hide how it will be paid for. What's crazy is that it always comes around to bite you in the butt - political pundits and your opposition analyze your numbers, read your small print, and then accuse you of the very thing you've tried to pretend you're not doing. Now, instead of leading your issue, you're playing defense and are seen as just another politician lying to the electorate. It just doesn't make sense to me. All because you were too afraid to piss off some redneck in the middle of the country. (Sorry, but look at a map, it's true!)

So, there was something incredibly refreshing in hearing Edwards' health-care stump speech. He said it like it is, created a practical plan based on something he believed in (crunch the numbers if you have the time, but at least he presented a plan that included a way to pay for it). If nothing else, it definitely grabbed the headlines and (at least temporarily) "stole" the issue from under Hillary's nose.

I guess that's just "politics" and of course I'm not so naive as to forget that the goal is to win - of course, if your guy doesn't get the votes, he doesn't win and none of your political ideals become reality - but we could definitely use a little more of this straight-up politiking.

Maybe, at the end of the day, it will alienate too many voters to result in a win, but on the other hand, Edwards could be on to something here.

Pretty much everyone you talk to is tired of the old-guard politics and politicians, tired of the fancy rhetoric, the lies and the half-truths. The appeal of "W" himself is based upon the perception that he is "plain spoken" and talks on a level to the "regular guy". So, maybe it's not so crazy after all to think that people might actually vote for someone who not only isn't afraid to speak up for what he believes in, but isn't afraid to tell us the truth about how he's going to get it done. Maybe, in the end, that's what people will vote on.

Truth over policy? I live in hope!

Cartoon of the day

From Peter Brookes of The Times.

More consequences of global warming...

...who knew?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/britain_corpseflower_weather_dc

How to overcome your fear of flying

Stop it!

The president of the company I work for encourages us managers to create a "Stop Doing List". The goal being to stop doing unecessary "tasks" and start creating time to strategize at a higher level or focus on the things that bring maximum impact to the company. Yet, after something Joss said to me yesterday, it occurred to me that I need a personal Stop Doing list. A list that reminds me to stop sweating the small stuff and focus my time and energy on things that really matter.

So, for Joss, here's my first STOP DOING item:

• Stop criticizing my husband about stupid little things that don't matter.

...and because I'm a positive kind of person, I think every Stop Doing item should have a corresponding instead do more of...

• Instead, give him more back rubs, kisses and hugs.

Of course, he's going to be mortified that I put this on my blog (thankfully one of us is concerned about what others think of us - unfortunately its not me! Sorry, babe) but something isn't "real" to me until it's written down.

I don't know when I became such a picky, intolerant person, but it certainly wasn' t me 10 years ago and I don't like it. Henceforth, I shall STOP IT! (Or as my Dad would say "Pack it in!")

I would like to thank...

Joy. For her dedication to posting comments to my blog and making me feel as though I'm actually talking to someone other than myself on this thing.

Thanks Joy!

SURPRISE!

Yesterday (Saturday) was my good friend Mala's Baby Shower. Mala used to work in the Marketing Department with me as our graphic designer but left in December to work for another company. I really miss seeing her every day. It's hard trying to be friends with someone while you're working with them, but Mala and I really bonded through both being born and brought up in another county (there's no better way to have fun than to gripe about Americans with another expat - sorry folks, but it's true!)

Mala's baby, Evani (isn't that a beautiful name?) is due on March 3, and Joy (another good friend of mine who works with me) organized a surprise baby shower at Mala's best-friend, Sanhita Bandyopadhyay's house. I just had to put Sanhita's last name in there - it's a fantastic tongue twister.

As you can see, Mala was suitably surprised. Her husband, Shomeek (behind her in the picture) was the one who had to load her in the car and get her to Sanhita's house for a casual "just because" lunch - something for which it sounds like he deserves a medal! Having been the victim of a surprise Bachelorette party last year, I can sympathize. There's a point in the proceedings, right as you're heading to the "fake" event, that the logic of the thing starts to unravel and suddenly you start to ask questions to which your "minder" has no answer. Why are you dressing up for this? Why aren't you dressing up? Why are we having lunch at 11:30? Why are we driving so fast? Why are we having lunch today again?

The event was also a great opportunity to catch up with employees of marketing teams past (not all of them - probably couldn't fit them in a single house).

First Photo - L to R - Megan (old Marketing Coordinator), Joy and her gorgeous daughter Noelle, Linh (old Marketing Assistant), Annette (old Marketing Assistant and other various jobs!)

Second Photo - Joe (Event Planning God - see previous posts) and Kim, my manager. Kim is also pregnant. See note below. She's going to kill me for posting this photo on the web but I think she's beautiful.

I can't wait to meet little Evani in just several short weeks!

Next week... Kim's baby-shower. Kim is due on 3/23 (although the date is the source of much debate).

I work in a cool place

The company I work for, Lyon Real Estate, is a great place to work. It has its ups and downs, and its proverbial "bag of poo" as do all companies, but it's full of hard-working, dedicated, and generally fun people. Every 1st Friday of the month, everyone in the corporate office gets together to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Our Event Director, Joe (who also was the coordinator God at my wedding), puts on some kind of fun activity that encourages team spirit and purchases a cake to ensure that we're all suitably jazzed up on sugar.

The above is a photo from this month's Fun Friday, where we got to learn the ancient art of... balloon twisting!

Below is me and Barbara Bryant (our VP of Finance) attempting to make a yellow and purple "dog". Next to my mum, Barbara is about the most fun accountant I have ever met. Like me, she enjoys traveling, and she has my crazy sense of humor!

Going soft in my old age

There are two things that are guaranteed to make me reminisce - smells and songs. Recently, my gym has taken to playing 80s pop hits (very enjoyable but definitely "dating" when people see you know every word to "You Spin Me Right Round"). This morning, as I was lying on a mat trying to stretch out my bum hip, I was taken aback by a flood of childhood memories that randomly reappeared as a result of hearing Sheena Easton's "9 to 5".

I would have been about six years old when this record was released in 1981. (Yes, math wizzes, that makes me 32). And it wasn't big events or momentous occasions that I remembered, it was small things, little pieces of a puzzle that made up my childhood. The smooth pinkiness of my mum's hands when she took mine; the smell of her on cardigans (sweaters in US) that I used to wrap around my pillow at night; the taste of an orange lolly (ice popsicle in the U.S.) bought for me by my dad on Sundays in summer after we drove back from the dump (landfill); Sundays with my nan and mum dancing with me in the living room as we listened to the national charts on the radio; my dad wrestling with me until I screamed "peanuts!". Then, laying there on a mat in California Fitness, I was hit but a sudden but very palpable sense of loss. The thought that I would never again do those things with those people, that the joy and security I felt as a child was gone, that I was missing so many moments now with my parents being so far away. I actually almost (I said almost) cried. I was happy and sad all at once. I had such a wonderful childhood and I had (have) fantastic parents who I adore.

It's funny how much things can change without you ever really taking a moment to process it. There are some days when I'm driving to work when I'm actually almost amazed that I am driving- when did it happen that I passed my driving test and started going places on my own, on my own schedule? Then I realize I own the car (alright, well strictly speaking its owned by Travis Federal Credit Union), I have a good job, I own my own house and - even more inexplicably - I live in a completely different country to where I grew up.

There are moments in my life where I live these changes anew - as if they just happened. It's almost as if I stepped out of my life for a while and, when I came back, all these things had happened while I was gone. It's so ODD!

Getting older (and I recognize I'm not exactly ancient - don't take me literally) is just interesting and frustating and fascinating and unexpected and challenging. It's nothing like I ever thought it would be when I was younger.

But what I did remember in my odd moment at the gym IS that it's the little things that make a life, a happy life. It's the moments that, at the time, pass you by as normal and insignificant. It's today. So, I resolve to be happy today, because you never know what you'll remember 20 years from now when you're lying on a mat in the gym...

Are they CRAZY?

Ok, so I HAD to check it out. How are all these new paper-crazed people organizing themselves?

I visited one of the links included in the article - for DIYPlanner.com. Here is a list of things they suggest you purchase in order to satisfy your need for a retro-planner (my name, not theirs):

• A planner, as mentioned above, unless you want a Hipster PDA. Then all you need is a $0.15 binder clip.
• Paper of the right type. That means the correct size and stock. For stock, if you're using a Hipster PDA, I'd recommend 90-110 lb card stock; if you're using anything else, I'd suggest bright white (94 and higher) 24 lb stock.
• A guillotine (a.k.a, "paper trimmer"). Only needed if you need to chop paper yourself. Can be found for about $20 USD, but a little investment goes a long way towards ease of use and the quality of the cut.
• A hole punch, if you're using anything besides a Hipster PDA.
• A pen. Some people use expensive fountain pens and other extravagant writing utensils. I use a Pilot G2 0.5. Writes smooth and flawlessly, and only costs $1.50 USD. (I can still lust after Fisher Space Pens, though.)
• Access to a computer and printer. Any semi-modern (read: less than about 8 years old) Windows, Mac or Linux machine will do, as long as it can run Adobe Acrobat Reader.

A guillotine and a hole punch? You mean, these people are actually cutting the paper TO SIZE and then hole punching it manually? Sure enough, see their demo online at the bottom of this page.

So, how exactly does this save me time? I have to download their templates, customize them on my computer (isn't it a bit disingenuous to renounce technology as merely getting in the way of your life, but then use a PC to facilitate it?), print them out (whoever has owned a printer knows it aint that simple), cut them to size, hole-punch them, put them in my planner thing and then (and only then) can I use my pen (!) to start writing.

I am completely FLOORED. I was so expecting a wide variety of cool, custom, planners with pre-printed, pick-and-choose pages for $99.99 each. I was almost ready to say phooey to the SmartPhone. But seriously, they have to be kidding. This isn't cool, this is crafts. The only thing cutting edge about it is the guillotine.

I may have lost some of my edge, but I'm pleased to learn that I haven't lost my common sense!

Further proof that I am no longer "cutting edge"

Most of you already know by now that I have accepted a new job in sales for a company called Trendgraphix (if you didn't, well you know now). Part of this exciting transition is getting a SmartPhone, something which really gets my inner-geek going. So, of course, I read in the paper this morning that the new cutting-edge mobile orgnizer is...

... a NOTEBOOK. Click here to read the article from today's Sacramento Bee.

Of course, the fact that this "trend setting" article is in the Sacramento Bee already tells me something... New York and L.A. have already been there and done this and have now moved on to some other widget.

Cutting edge? I'm more like a blunt butter knife.

Other items of interest in the news today...

French government considers mandating naps to improve productivity.

PARIS (AP) - The French already enjoy a 35-hour work week and generous vacation. Now the health minister wants to look into whether workers should be allowed to sleep on the job.

France launched plans this week to spend $9 million this year to improve public awareness about sleeping troubles. About one in three French people suffer from them, the ministry says. Fifty-six percent of French complain that a poor night's sleep has affected their job performance, according to the ministry.

"Why not a nap at work? It can't be a taboo subject," Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said Monday. He called for further studies and said he would promote on-the-job naps if they prove useful.

France's state-run health insurance provider will send letters explaining the importance of good sleep. The Health Ministry's Web site offers tips on how best to get a good night's rest. The ministry's online "Passport to Sleep" recommends cutting down on coffee, tea, colas, and athletic activity after 8 p.m., shunning TV time or working late in the evening, and listening better to the body's own sleep signals, such as yawning. Bertrand said sleepiness causes 20 percent to 30 percent of highway accidents across France each year.


Ok, so let's get this straight - they get large EU farming subsidies, ridiculous amounts of vacation, two-hour lunches, good wine, great cuisine, a coastline on the Med AND work-naps? WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE ALL DOING IN THE U.S.??????

Stories like this just make me mad

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070131/ap_on_re_us/jailed_rape_victim_3

As if it wasn't bad enough that they put her in jail on some stupid warrant, a jail worker then refused to give the woman the morning after pill because of religious beliefs! Hurumpf.

The cost of living "abroad"

Today I went to the local British Grocers, primarily to purchase the funny looking thing above. Cadbury's Highlights are just the best instant hot chocolate ever (seriously, instant but GOOD) AND - better still - they only have 40 calories in every pack. Is that like heaven in a baggie or what??? Usually my mum sends these out to me, but she's been sending a lot of packages out recently, which is very expensive, so I thought I would do the adult thing and purchase my own groceries for a change.

At Tesco (UK equivalent of Safeway but actually a lot better), the above product sells for two pounds and forty pence, or $3.60. At the "A Touch of Britain", this same canister costs $13.95!!!! That's not a touch, that's more like a full-on grope!!!!

I just couldn't do it, I just couldn't pay $14 for it. Yet, somehow I did manage to purchase a small brown bag of groceries costing a wopping $30. For this I got:

6 small tins of Heinz Baked Beans (which I just can't live without) at $1.75 each (39p or $0.58 from Tescos) - the pictured tin is actually 2x the size of what I bought!

One Cadbury's "Flake" bar for Joss, a bottle of salad cream and some Branston's pickle.

I wouldn't call this exactly gourmet - I could have had a serious sushi binge for $30 - but unfortunately this is the price of missing home. Needless to say, Mum will be shipping the Highlights.

It does bring up a good point, though... there's money to be made in this whole English food thing. An entrepreneurial thought for another day...

Adding insult to injury...

... my parents' electricity inexplicably went out yesterday afternoon, leaving them in a cold, dark house. When my mum called my dad at home to see how is doing this afternoon, he said he was still in bed because that was the warmest place in the house. :( So, the antibiotics are still not working, the painkillers aren't helping much and then he was in a house with no lights or heating in January. Thankfully the electricity has since come back on, but seriously, what a crappy week for my Dad.

The downfalls of socialized medicine

My dad had to go to the emergency room over the weekend, back home in England. He had developed an ear infection so bad that the pain had moved into his head, his neck, his arm and was affecting his speech. Having had inner-ear problems when I was a kid, I can tell you that ear infections are no joke. Like tooth-aches, there's just no escaping a sharp pain in your head.

My dad has had poor hearing ever since I can remember, as a result of a neglected childhood ear infection. We've pretty much always considered him functionally deaf in his left ear and with poor hearing in his right as a result of tinitis. In the last few years, however, it seems to have got progressively worse. There's pretty much no way to have a conversation with him that doesn't involve you repeating what you said at least twice. As a result, my mum finally nagged him enough to get him to try a hearing aid, with the hope that some kind of functional hearing could be restored.

He finally got his hearing aids about two weeks ago and the miraculous, unthinkable happened - the ear that we thought was completely deaf actually regained some hearing! The specialist even said that it would have been even better if it wasn't for a big ball of wax lodged in his inner ear. She suggested that he go to the doctor to get it syringed. Which is what he did, last Thursday. Of course, this was too menial a task for my parents' Iraqi (yes, oh the irony) doctor and so he met with the nurse.

Let's just establish here that this doctor's office doesn't have a very good track record:

• This is the office that had my dad down as insulin dependent in his file when he wasn't and told him that he had liver damage and needed to stop drinking, when he doesn't.


• This is the doctor who broke the news to my mother than she has arthritis in her hands and legs and when asked, what type, told her just "regular arthritis", then when questioned further (rheumatoid? osteo?) he told her that he knew she would be a "difficult patient".


• Let's also not foget that he prescribed Vioxx for her and then continued to be willing to renew the prescription long after the FDA pulled the pills from the shelf (thankfully I listen to NPR and forwarded the radio broadcast the day the story broke). The doctor also continues to mis-prescribe my dad's diabetes and blood-thinning pills, writing the wrong dosage and/or quantities down.


• This is also the office that forces you to make separate appointments for separate ailments. Got a sore thumb on your left hand and an ingrown nail on your right? Make two separate appointments, and don't even think of trying to slip your unrelated symptom into the first consultation.

I'm sure you can already see where this is going, but I'll continue...

So, the nurse tries to syringing-out the offending ball of wax, but it's a bit stubborn. Three painful tries later, she gives up and tells my dad to go home and put drops of olive-oil in his ear for a week, to try and soften up the wax.

The next day my dad wakes up with an earache... and the rest you know. Except, this is what the emergency nurse told him:

1. The doctor's nurse should never have tried to syringe his ear without FIRST having him soften the wax with a week's worth of HOT (missing detail there) olive-oil treatment.


2. In doing so, the nurse had certainly caused the inner-ear infection my dad now had AND had possibly damaged his ear-drum in the process - she would have been able to know for sure, but the swelling in his ear was so severe she couldn't see down his ear canal.

So, my dad is now home with anti-biotics, holding his head, unable to sleep and fearing that he had again lost any hope of hearing in his left ear. If that incompetent nurse has destroyed his chances of restoring hearing to that ear, my parents should definitely sue! But honestly, it probably won't happen. The sad thing about the NHS (National Health System) is that you get "assigned" a doctor based upon where you live, and if you make a complaint about him or her, you get blacklisted and no other doctor will take you on their books.

Fear-not, I have not lost my belief in socialized medicine completely but there are two ends of the spectrum - England is on one end and the U.S. is on the other. Neither work and the only people that suffer is the patient.

This is my wonderful Dad. I'll let you know how his eardrum is....

All married off

Just got back from South Lake Tahoe, where's Joss' best friend, Eric, got married. Eric and Rachel (his new wife) had planned to marry atop a snowy hill after a romantic sleigh ride. However (as Joss and I were painfully aware on our big day too) the weather did not cooperate - not a flake of snow on the ground meant that the sleigh turned into a carriage ride, and the hill turned into a public beach down by the lake. That doesn't mean it wasn't FREEZING COLD, however. In my rush to get ready between hotel check-in at 2pm, and wedding at 3:45pm, I forgot to put socks on over my pantyhose and basically lost all feeling in both big toes for the duration of the event.















For anyone who knows anything about Joss and Eric's friendship, this was a pretty momentous occasion. Let's just say that Joss and Eric were partners in crime when it came to the ladies, for many years. There is many a cringe-worthy story to be told about their reign over the Sacramento night-club scene... and beyond... stories which I shall gladly spare you here. If you had asked me 5-6 years ago if I could imagine Eric Easter (or Double E, as we know him) as a married man, I probably would have died laughing. I'm guessing I'm not the only one. (Sorry E!) But, the lovely Rachel has captured his heart and now - even more scarily - he will be a daddy in July!!!

So, the end of an era. Joss and Eric, old married men.


















Getting ready to head up to Tahoe on Saturday morning, shortly after posting my first blog entry, also made me a acutely aware of yet another thing that has hit me since age 30 came around. PIMPLES.

Yes, aparently, those rotten things are not just reserved for your awkward teenage years. Who knew, but it is actually quite common for your skin to start changing in your 30s and the dreaded red-spotty-ones to return. As if it's not bad enough that your metabolism is slowing down to a dead-halt and your eyes are developing creeping little lines, you have to be faced with zits. This in turn has resulted in the need for more make-up to cover up these unsightly things.

So, I'm getting ready to pack my bag for Tahoe and thinking Ok, just need to throw some make-up in a little zip-lock bag. First I pull out my war-paint-strength foundation, then I grab my special under-eye concealer (a shade or two lighter plus anti-wrinke agents and with SPF 15). But oh! Musn't forget the concealer-concealerfor the zits, the pressed-powder to "set" it all in place and avoid the dreaded shiny nose syndrome, the bronzer (so as not to appear like a porcelein doll) and the blush to put back in the color you just took away by pasting an inch or two of foundation on your skin. You'd think that would be it right? Well, it was for the ziplock bag - which caused me a moment of pause. Hold on, where were the days where I could throw blush, lip-gloss and mascara in a baggie and take off?

I looked down at the bag, bulging to the brim with creamy substances and I thought, with dismay - I need something bigger... much bigger.

A moisturizer, eye-repair cream, cleansing facial wipe, eye-liner, mascara, eye-shadow trio, brow wax, lip-liner and lipstick later... I had filled an entire toiletry bag which had, in a previous and more carefree life, been sufficient for everything I would need for an entire week away. For one night away I seemed to have accumulated the need for an ENTIRE ENTOURAGE of make-up and facial care items. Did I need all this, really? What had happed to me?

The answer, of course, is that my skin now needs more than a little artificial help and this made me feel incredibly vain... like some self-absorbed celebrity-type who couldn't get out of bed in the morning without a fresh coat of mascara. Of course, I'm not that bad (I let it all "hang out" whenever I don't have to go out in public) but still, it was a pretty big realization for me. Perhaps you've been carting around all these cosmetics all your life, you think I'm being dramatic, but for someone who used to have great skin and who felt over made-up with a coat of eyeliner, this was (is!) a big deal.

Anyway, here is the result of all that... stuff. Was it worth it? The only way to know would be to see me WITHOUT the make-up, and honestly I don't think I'm posting that picture any time soon.

You CAN comment...

Sorry folks, seems this whole blogging thing has a few things I need to figure out. Elena just let me know that she was unable to post a comment to my site because my profile only allowed "Team Members", whatever that means. Well, I've changed the settings so that anyone can post. But, here is what Elena has asked me to post on her behalf...


My dearest Michelle, welcome to the wonderful world of blogging! I'm so glad I inspired you to do this. And for anyone else who might be reading this, this is Elena, the first US friend. And yes, I'm all that, AND a bag of chips. Seriously, Michelle, what you said about me is really moving. I love having you in my life, even if we don't see each other often. You are beautiful, smart, powerful, fun, and real. When I saw you in November at your lovely wedding, it was like only a few days had passed since we hung out. You're absolutely right, I think, this is a way to keep friends and family closely connected with your life, any aspect of it you choose. What I'm also finding is that some of my friends tell me what I should blog, or call me with good stories to blog. It's awesome!

This is me and Elena at my wedding.

So, basically, let the commenting begin...