September 11

Of course today is a humble day in our nation and in all the small towns and villages where normal people live, not just people who are representing cities and states. I know exactly where I was the minute the first plane hit - I don't think I will ever forget that. I was in the volvo wagon with the kid - she was a 3 month old then and we were headed for a visit with a friend who's baby is just about the same age. I had the radio on and when the news came over - I remember the dj's saying something about it being some kind of prank, like a Howard Stern thing. And then right after that, when the second plane hit, all voices turned hysterical. Once I got to Pam's house in front of her enormous tv, we just sat there with the babies in stupefaction. Just glued to it.

Watching the news and the review of the day yesterday, it crystallized to me that this is the first national tragedy my generation has experienced. We didn't have Vietnam or MLK or anything - this is our history. Hopefully we will never experience it again. I didn't personally know anyone, although I had an online friend who works at the Pentagon. There was someone in my town who I didn't know who died. I think that even if you didn't know anyone personally, that there is still room in your heart for appreciation and sorrow and a few tears to fall. I'm not a demonstrative person - at least I don't think so. I don't think I could go to those memorials every year - I'd be a basket case - me, the person who cracks the jokes at the funerals. I've seen men at the Vietnam Memorial and it's the names on the wall + what the memorial symbolizes or the AIDS quilt. Often it is just the symbol that can move a person to tears, or to action or to sympathy.

My Friend Peter, that sarcastic SOB

I truly am a shitty friend. My friend Peter died recently of complications from a pancreas transplant. Yeah you pretty much need one of those. Peter was a tremendous high school athlete and good looking dude. He and the boys used to come into the diner I worked at on Sunday mornings after hockey practice. Unfortunately I had eyes for another Peter in the crowd (big mistake - he wore Frye boots). We ran into each other again a few years later in a coed softball league and became good friends even though I was married to who would later be called "that asshole". But he was always there for me - he had had a kidney transplant a few years before that but was doing really well. Unfortunately all the drugs and diabetes took a toll on his body over time and he just couldn't fight the fight anymore. For me I feel terrible we weren't closer over the last few years since I got remarried and he hadn't seen the kid in while. No excuse really since we live pretty close by each other. My bad. I have to live with the guilt and that sucks.

Oblivious Me

So I'm outside with the kid the other drawing on the walkway with chalk and my high school friend, who lives literally around the corner from me, came walking around with a double stroller. Double, you say? Since she only has one kid who is two and a half. Oh yes, cause she popped out another one since the last time I saw her! and he's 7 months old! So that makes me a shitty friend, right? I was so shocked I said "that's not yours, right?" (as I pointed into his little face). And she was all, "yup - surprise!"



Hey she seems to be handling it very well so all the power to her. Since she had to go through the whole in vitro thing with the first once, this boy is a very pleasant surprise. And cute.



We vowed to get together a little more often.

Dress Code

Now that fall is in the air here in New England, I would like to formally protest the advent of the flip flop as a fashion accessory in the workplace. Not only is it unsightly and unhygenic, but the NOISE going up and down the hall! Flip flop flip flop - it's ghastly. Now my workplace is fairly casual - guys are in khakis, women in skirts or chinos - no hose required. But I wear a jacket every day with my skirt or pants, try to look at least halfway professional since I work with the sales department and also am pulled into some executive meetings - but that's me. I wouldn't be caught dead in a pair of flip flops in the office - rubber, leather or otherwise.

When did a cutoff denim mini skirt paired with a hoochie mama tank top and matching flip flops become appropriate for ANY work place (Hooters, excepted). Do these women expect to be taken seriously - by anyone?

and speaking of marketable....

Well, I survived the last round of cuts at the office. Two of my pals were let go and honestly, considering the amount of money they each were respectively pulling down and the output they were creating, it's not a surprise. Thankfully the drama is gone - weeks of speculation and "who do you think it's going to be", etc. Talk about a drop in productivity - mine included as I couldn't keep anyone out of my office! Like I'm privy to what's going on....

So what's a girl to do - I'm having a crisis of consciousness I think. I can't decide whether tis better to actively look even though I really don't feel like it or to go back and take some classes and get a job in an industry I'd like to work in or take the sure thing at a company an hour away from my house with my old boss.

A conundrum for sure.

Most Marketable

What does that mean, really? That the most people will buy it, or that a company will sink the most money into it or it's the coolest thing that everyone wants (remember Cabbage Patch kids and Tickle Me Elmo?). Well, the kid won "Most Marketable Invention" at the invention convention which I absolutely think she deserved. But I wonder if somewhere down the line that someone will appropriate her idea and market it themselves and make a ton of money.

Should I be applying for a patent?

Invention Convention Update

Well, as luck would have it - the kid WON her division of the Invention Convention (first grade)! Which means we get to go to STATE! (in a town full of shopping outlets and the best pancakes around - not so terrible). She is excited, although she is not quite sure why.

Honestly, her invention is pretty cool but I think what really swayed the judges was that she did the assembly of the model herself (she's the princess of the glue stick) and wrote the description and drew the model and explained it herself. As opposed to a lot of kids who had their parents help them, especially with the writing of the description - that's pretty lame.

So we're off. And next time you're at the baggage claim in the airport, you might see our invention come to life!