Blowing Winds

I have been up since 3am listening to the wind. I have never had a fear of wind until Hurricane Sandy. Now, it is not really a fear of wind, but a fear of trees falling. Specifically the tree in my backyard. I have a large maple tree in the center of my yard, about 20 feet away from my bedroom window. It survived Sandy with only one large branch falling. If I do the math calculation and the tree falls in a northern wind, it will be in my bedroom. The winds last night were so strong, that for the first time in my 31 years living here, I was actually concerned. When the storm died down, I looked out of my window and saw that everything was still status quo.

Bargain Time

This is the best time of year to go clothes shopping. Clearance time. If you are a good shopper, you can find great buys in January. One of my friends came to work in a $160 cashmere sweater that she just purchased in Macy's, for $16. It is a sweater that will never go out of style, but the store just needed to empty its racks. My son is one of the best bargain hunters. He always has been. Last weekend he bought a wool peacoat that had originally been priced at $80, for $9. He decided to bring it to the dry cleaner to press it and when he asked how much it would cost, he was told $17. It made no sense to pay double of what it cost. He took it home and found another store that would clean it for $2. Another good deal.

Young at Heart

I have a colleague who is 76 years old and still practicing medicine. She is very active for her age. She goes to Aspen in the winter, to ski. She goes skydiving. This week she announced that she is engaged. Her fiance is 83 years old. They will have a commuter marriage since they reside in different states. I am very happy for her, but I cannot understand why she has the need to be married at this point in her life. (I hope she isn't pregnant :)

Beep, Beep, Beep

Last night as I was watching television, I heard a beeping sound. I was not sure where it was coming from but after a few minutes I got up to investigate. It was not the kind of sound that my smoke detectors give off, but I checked them anyway. I continued to walk around until I went upstairs and saw my carbon monoxide detector blinking and chirping. For a moment I got scared. Was it a low battery or was there carbon monoxide in the air. I opened up all of the windows just in case, until I found the AA batteries to replace the existing ones. I climbed onto a chair and one by one put in the new batteries. The beeping stopped and I tested the unit to make sure that I had installed the batteries correctly. All was well, but I now had a pounding headache. For the few minutes when I was not sure it was only a weak battery, I did not want to take a deep breath.

Choices

Every evening I pick out the outfit I will wear to work the next day. I look in my closet and begin the process of choosing my clothes. First I start with the pants. What color am I in the mood to wear? Do I feel like basic black, or chocolate brown or maybe grey? Do I want the tweed or the pinstriped? Once the decision is made for the pants, I move onto the tops. Do I want a sweater or a cotton top or should I choose a layered look? Next, I move onto shoes. Do I want to wear boots or flats or a low heel? Once the outfit is chosen, I lay it out on the dresser until I wear it the next morning. I like to be prepared ahead of time and do not want to have to pull out clothes at 6am. I have no idea what makes my brain decide on the "color of the day" as each article of clothing is one that I liked enough to buy. I guess it is the same theory of foods. Am I in the mood for Italian, Chinese or American?

T-2

I have two bathrooms in my house. What would be the odds of both of them having a problem at the same time. You guessed it. Like Murphy's Law says, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Being the do-it-yourselfers that we are, having a plumber come and fix them was the last option. We went to Home Depot and bought the parts. The small bathroom was easy to fix. It just needed a flap. The larger bathroom was going to be the hard one. We needed to remove the tank and put in a new seal. Too bad that the screws holding down the tank did not get the memo. After hours of twisting and turning, using monkey wrenches and vises, we gave up and called the plumber. He will be here in one hour.

Una Mente De Ello Es Propia

Una mente de ello es propia, is Spanish for "a mind of its own". I have been writing this blog for almost two years. Every morning I go to the website and enter my password. About one month ago the Google page for this blog turned Spanish. At first I "x"'d out the browser to start all over again, but it still came up in Spanish. I noticed that at the bottom of the page there is a drop down box to choose your language. I highlighted English and the page turned to English. I thought I was through. Wrong. The next morning the Spanish appeared again. It is only Spanish on the log in page for Blogspot, nowhere else. I turned it to English once again. Every morning I redirect the log in box to English. This morning I just gave up and logged in, in Spanish. Acabo de abandonar ( I just gave up).

Loaded

I might not be the most technological person around, but I am pretty good with figuring out how things work. Whenever there is a problem at my office, I am the one that fixes it. Since I will be doing some lectures next month, I needed a stapler that could be used for 20 pages. A standard stapler cannot do the job. I purchased a  stapler that could easily bind 25 pages. When I opened it up to load the staples, I did it the standard way. I placed the staples on the metal bar and closed it. It would not work. I reloaded it with less staples. No good. I reloaded it with more staples. Still no good. I showed it to my husband and he did the same thing. I put it aside and decided not to look at it again. When my husband got home from work, he decided it was his mission to load the staples. I am not sure how long it took, but he figured it out. They needed to be loaded with the stapler upside down, almost defying gravity. I have no idea who thought up that concept. It made no sense, but the stapler now works.

Arctic Freeze

It is cold outside. The kind of cold that makes you run. The thermometer says 22 degrees but it feels like 6 degrees. I changed my outfit twice, each time putting on a warmer sweater. I am sure that when I am in my office, sweating, I will regret that decision. The only good thing is that there is no snow. Yesterday, depending on where you live, you either had clear ground or a winter wonderland. All of this within a matter of ten miles. I shouldn't complain. So far this winter has not been as bad as expected.

The New Ink

I just replaced the ink cartridge in my printer. The ink is getting to be so expensive that sometimes it is cheaper to buy a new printer that comes with 2 new inks. Once the ink is replaced, it goes through its test cycle. I have no idea why it has to print a full page of black and blue designs. Why can't it just do 3 or 4 lines. As it does its cycle, all I can think of is that it is wasting my precious, expensive ink.

MLK

Today is Martin Luther King Day. It is a day of remembrance of a civil rights social activist. It is sad that we will never know what role he could have played in American politics. This morning I return to work after being away for over a week. There will be no traffic today as the schools are closed. There will be no mail as the post offices are also closed. Both of those things make my day easier. I am sure that I will have a stack of work waiting for me, so I am leaving a bit earlier to get a jump on the day. Most people will not reflect on what this holiday means. They will probably be at the mall looking for sales.

One More Kiss

I left Florida yesterday morning. As I was almost out the door, I felt the need to run back in, for just a split second and give my mother one more kiss goodbye. That decision might have saved my life. It was a misty morning and as we entered the ramp of Interstate 595, there was one car ahead of us. As it went into the roadway, an SUV came sliding across 3 lanes and hit it. Then the car spun around and catapulted into a third car. That car spun around and hit the guardrail. Within 30 seconds, there were three cars smashed up, two of them facing backwards. After seeing the three drivers get out of their cars stunned, we continued on. We had to drive sideways into the left lane to enter the highway. It was a slippery road and no one was at fault. It was a case of bad road conditions. That one decision, of one more kiss, made a big difference.

Time Flies

I cannot believe how fast the past 6 days have gone. I planned this trip for weeks and now it is here and gone. I have done everything I had planned and more. Lots of food, lots of conversation and minimal shopping. Just the way I like things. I will return here in 5 weeks and I hope that time will fly. By then I will have digested my 18 meals.

Stuffed

I am writing this blog a bit slower today. I am still full from last night's dinner so I am moving at a slower pace. I have 1 hour to work it off before I go to breakfast. For $2.50 I will eat 3 eggs, oatmeal, toast and coffee. If I wanted to spend $1.00 more I could add bacon or sausage. All I have done here is eat large meals that cost little money. I am not used to such bulk eating. I have swapped out my usual yogurt and fruit for a high salt and even higher cholesterol breakfast. The prices here are competitive to keep the senior citizen's loyal. I think that medically, this is a good idea. Instead of calling it overeating, I call it keeping up your immune system.

Jungle Queen

It was a beautiful day yesterday, so I took a ride on the Jungle Queen. It is a small sightseeing boat that tours the intercoastal waterway in Ft. Lauderdale. We floated past multi-million dollar homes. They were exquisite and the architecture was beautiful  Instead of streets, these homes were on lines of canals. Each home had a boat or yacht docked at it. The houses were so large that some of them looked like hotels. As I passed each one, I could not believe that people actually own these. Some of the homes belonged to the Thomas family (Wendy's hamburgers) Kohls, Firestone, Oscar Meyer and other billion dollar businessmen. I don't know whether it made me feel good or bad by seeing these homes. Does a large home really bring happiness or is a simple life better?

Sparkle

I was at the Festival Flea Market yesterday morning. For anyone who visits their parents from New York, the Festival is a ritual. They sell the same items from year to year. Same glass pendents, same knock off imitation handbags, same tee shirts. I found something new yesterday. A man was selling crystal art work. He hand created pop art and religious pictures by gluing crystals onto suede. Thousands of Swarovski crystals. The pictures were magnificent. He said each one took over 17 hours to make. They sparkled like colored diamonds. He was selling them, framed, for $1000-$1800 and that was a fair price. He then showed us an article on the web. Someone bought one of his pictures, framed it in a sterling silver frame and resold it to the music star Rhianna. He sold it to the man for $3000, the other man framed it for $6000 and Rhianna bought it for $160,000. He took it to court and lost the case because the judge said that anyone can resell anything for a profit.
Update: After doing more research into this, it turns out that although this man does create these beautiful pictures, his story was a "bubba meinsa", (a lie). Another artist created the picture for Rhianna and there are pictures of her actually making the piece. I emailed the man from the Festival just to notify him that I know the truth and I asked why he had the need to tell me a lie. His work could stand on its own without embellishment. He wrote back and said he never said this and maybe he copied the other artist and or maybe he was confused. Hopefully he stops telling stories and just sticks to gluing crystals on suede.

Air Time

I flew to Florida yesterday morning. The flight was scheduled for 9:35am. When I arrived at the airport it had been changed to 9am. It was a foggy day and the previous flight had to circle for 45 minutes before it landed, delaying my flight. We took off at 10am, for a flight that was listed to land at 1:16pm. Somehow we landed at 12:30pm. This was either great time management or someone does not know how to calculate figures.

Fly Away

This morning I am taking off. Flying to Florida to see my parents. I can't wait to get on the plane and being to clear my head. I do not love to fly but I knowing that I will see my parents makes it worth it. I am looking forward to a few days of trying not to think. I want the warm sunshine and warmer company. I will see their friends and catch up on the past few months. And I am sure gather a lot of blog material.

Going South

I am getting ready to go to Florida. I have made my list and checked it twice. Ok, ten times. As usual, I will over pack. I am doing last minute laundry and making sure that all loose ends are tied up. Shelby is at the vet and it feels strange to be without him. Almost as if I sent him to summer camp. When I think about it, all I really need is my plane ticket and driver's license. Anything else, I can get there.

Pup-cation

Today, Shelby is going on vacation. I am going to Florida on Monday, but he is leaving first. The vet is not open on Sunday so he needs to be settled in by today. I always feel guilty when he leaves. In all the years I have been boarding my dogs, I have never looked to see their accommodations. He is staying at the vet's office, so I know he is well cared for. In my mind he has a fluffy bed and is running through green grass fields. He knows he is going away when he sees the small carrying case appear. The funny thing is that he always runs right into it. I send him with homemade food so he will still know I care. I will miss him a lot.

Unreliable

There are few things I dislike more than an unreliable person. Everyone is entitled to be late, but once it happens more than twice, it becomes unreliable. That is the situation I have in work right now. A few weeks ago, my evening receptionist was due in work at 2pm. She was supposed to relieve me so I could go home. At 2:30pm I called her and she said she was on her way. At 3:30pm she walked in. I asked her how it took 1 1/2 hours for a 15 minute drive. She made up some kind of dumb excuse. Two weeks ago she was late again and my daytime receptionist had to miss a doctor appointment. I told the girl I was very upset and this could not happen again. This Monday she was late. She said she was pulled over by a policeman as she was rushing to work. I asked her why she was rushing, if she knew what time she was due in. She wasn't ready for that question. As they used to say on the Seinfeld show...yada, yada, yada,....I have an ad in Craigslist.

Loose Ends

Today will fly by. I will be going on vacation next week so I have to tie up all of my loose ends in work today. All calls must be made and all papers must be processed. The funny thing is that I do this anyway at the end of each day. I always believed in a "daily basis" work theory. Everything needs to be taken care of on a daily basis. When I go into other offices and see piles of papers, I have no idea why they can't be taken care of. If you work on a daily basis plan, you go home with a clear head.

Mail Stop

The post office is losing millions of dollars each year. I used to feel bad for them but after listening to a story yesterday morning, I no longer do. My friend's mother is a "snow bird", a person that spends the winter months in Florida and the rest of the time in New York. She put a change of address request in to the post office and even received a written confirmation. As of yesterday, no mail has been forwarded. My friend called the post office and no one knows where the mail is. As she went up the line from supervisor to supervisor, each person was nastier than the next. One person even told her that her mother did not live in the building in New York, because "only Koreans live there". My friend was screaming so loud at the postal workers that I was surprised that she did not burst a lung. As it stands now, the mail is floating in space, nowhere to be found. Here is the irony of the story..... my friend's husband is a postal worker.

Comparison Shopping

I was shopping at a baby store the other day when I noticed an item that I wanted to buy. It was a special kind of pillow that has become very popular over the past few years. The pillow was $59.99. I thought that I had seen the same pillow at another baby store for $54.99. I did not buy it at the first store as I wanted to save a few dollars and the two stores are only 1/2 mile away from each other. I went to the second store, only to find that the pillow was now $64.99. I called over the manager and told him that the other store had the item for less and asked if he would match the price. He said he would but I would need to go to that store and bring him a circular showing the price. I told him that it was online for the lower price also, so couldn't we look it up so he could see. He said he needed the circular. I then said that if I have to go to the other store to get a circular, why wouldn't I just buy it there. He looked stumped. I thanked him for his time and went back to the original store and bought the pillow.

Odd Pricing

Since it is the beginning of the year, it is time to order basic accounting supplies. I always order from the same company because they print the specific ledger sheet that we use. Each year, when I order it, the same option pops up. If I want 12 sheets, it costs $25.99. If I want 25 sheets, it costs $25.99. That's right. It is the same price for 12 or 25. I have no idea who would be that careless and order 12 when you get 13 free. If you only use a few a year, they should still buy more and save it for another year. I wonder if the price went on the website incorrectly years ago and no one ever checked it. I guess I will never know. I will just keep ordering 25.

Sleep

I have not slept a full night since May 2, 1980. That was the night before my wedding. After that, I had to adjust to a time schedule that included my husband working nights, then babies that got up every two hours. It is now 32 years later and my body no longer has the capacity to fall asleep and stay asleep. I choose not to take any medications to help, as I want a natural sleep not a drugged one. Instead of sleeping, I lie in bed and think. And think. And think. Sometimes I think so much that I wake up with a pounding headache. That is how I feel this morning. Once I take two Excedrin, I will be good to go. I think I need to get a night job and see if I could sleep days.

Levels of Crazy

The other day I was discussing how people react to adversity. Some take bad news well and some react poorly. Good news and bad news are concrete ideas to cope with. Uncertainty is the killer. As calm of a person as I am, when I hear bad news, I like to kick it up a notch and act like a maniac. In the end, the bad news turns out fine so all I have done is wasted my time acting crazy and irrational. Acting that way, obviously helps me deal with an unpleasant situation and calms me down. Maybe acting crazy is really sane.

Two Slices

I just came home from a local deli named The Meadow Dairy. They have lost me as a customer, forever, over 2 slices of cheese. I have been going there for 30 years and continued going there when the new owners took over about 6 years ago. Here is what led to my boycott: I went to get lunch and ordered 2 sandwiches. I also ordered 2 buttered rolls. Then it happened...I asked for 1/8 lb of Swiss cheese. The owner said, "No". Huh? No? I said, "You won't give me 1/8 lb of cheese?"  He said, "No, I will only sell you 1/4 lb". Had I not been in a rush, I would have put down all of my items and walked out. The other worker behind the counter looked at me and said he would give me the 1/8 lb. The owner then chimed in, Only this one time". I took my order and went to the counter to pay. I then said, In this economy, with businesses failing, you would lose a customer over 2 slices of cheese?" His wife, who was also behind the counter started to stare at the wall. I then told her that the least I would expect from anyone is for them to have the courtesy to look me in the eyes when I speak. I paid and took my bag and as I left I told them goodbye.....forever.

De Coding

Our government has taken over healthcare and it is not a good thing. HMO's and locked in plans are being forced upon us and with that comes a decrease in fees that are paid to the doctors. I know that in previous years doctors fees were a bit over inflated but now things have reversed. Office visits that Medicare used to pay $130 for are now being paid at the rate of $64. Considering our level of inflation, that is an unfair schedule. Doctors are now trying to interpret the coding rules in order to get a higher reimbursement. My employer wants me to follow what the others are doing. I refused. If my name is attached to the billing records, I will only bill what is correct. No deviations. I explained that yesterday, in no uncertain terms. Taking a risk, for a higher payout, is never worth it in the long run.

Not My Buddy

For lack of anything better to do, I began to watch a marathon of the television show "Next Great Baker". The show is an offshoot of Cake Boss, a show about a man named Buddy, who owns a bakery in Hoboken, NJ. It is a specialty bake shop that makes amazing cakes. The show was entertaining until they got to one specific challenge. Each team of bakers had to duplicate a cake that was made by Buddy. It had to be perfect and look good enough to be a cake he would sell in his shop. Each team started to reproduce the cakes to see who could create the most and win the challenge. As each cake was finished, Buddy inspected them. If it was good, he put it on the table. If it did not pass inspection, he tossed it into a garbage pail. One by one, the cakes were forcefully tossed into the garbage. In total 11 cakes were discarded and 7 passed muster. For some reason as I saw him toss each cake, I found myself getting upset. All I kept thinking about was hungry people who had no food to eat, and this man tossing cakes aside like garbage, all because they did not look picture perfect. A total waste of edible food. In a flash, I saw why people look at Americans as shallow, wasteful people. Eleven cakes could have been cut into 88 slices and fed 88 thankful people. Instead they sat in a heap, in a black hefty bag. I do not think I will watch this show again.

Happy New Year

Happy 2013. I cannot believe how fast 2012 went. A lot happened in 2012, so maybe that is why it flew by. I spent New Years Eve just the way I like it. At home and quietly. I was never a person for fanfare and revelry. I am not a party animal. I am content within my own space. As I was watching television, my older son called and asked if I wanted to Skype with his family. I jumped at the opportunity and ran to the computer. Within 5 seconds, there they were....my son, daughter in law and the new baby. I felt like I was sitting in their kitchen with them, talking and laughing and watching the baby look around and move her arms and legs. Midway through our visit, she fell asleep. It seems that she had her first play group yesterday and was tired out. I have the pictures to prove it. The baby in her New Years party hat, sleeping. Unexpectedly, I spent my New Years Eve with the people I love the most, even though they are 230 miles away.