Fright Flights

Well how creepy is the attempted attack on the flight to Detroit from Amsterdam? Update-and now another one.....

For someone who uses planes to go to work almost every week it’s very scary. Here’s a little tidbit that I’ve noticed over the last year-I’ll bet at least 85% of the flights that I’m on, the person in the window seat in the exit row is a dark skinned guy, by themselves, aged around 25 years old. Not being prejudiced, just noticing a fact.

I started noticing that awhile back because if I can’t get a seat near the front I always go for the exit rows because they’re roomier. And it didn’t take long to catch on to that demographic. Sometimes I’ll be sitting in the aisle seat in the exit row and watch the line of people coming on the plane. When I see a person who meets that description I know they will sit there and they usually do. And, for planes that are usually about 90% white or couples and families, this is even a stranger statistic. I’m going to start taking pictures now of them……I’ll pretend I’m getting a picture out the window.

Of course now I’m also worried that I’ll over react. Like, when one of them reaches for their bag of peanuts I’ll head butt them or something.

I know if I’m ever on a plane and something happens like that guy from Nigeria was planning, I’d want my kids to know how much I love them, that’s for sure, but I’d hope they know that anyway. No matter how old I get and they get, I still get a kick out of looking at them and talking to them. Yep, in the family area I really lucked out! But then again that’s another tangent.

The worst part of this story could be new rules for air travel. I mean, what if they really start limiting what you can bring on. What about all of the hair care products that I routinely travel with? And if there’s longer lines my occasional lack of patience, especially with early morning flights will exhibit itself even quicker.

And once again, not to appear biased, but if that TSA agent in Detroit who wears a turban puts me in the high security screening line again I’ll scream. Well, no I won’t cause that’ll just delay me even more.

So I guess I’ll just expect longer lines and less patience and try not to jump on someone on the plane for reaching for their MP3 player or something.

Creepy Nightmare

While I was in Indy this last week I had a horrible nightmare on Thursday night. It was about a huge fire in a party like scenario that started from the top and killed 112 young people. The worst was that in this nightmare I could feel the emotional pain of the families that had lost their kids. In my nightmare I could see the families sobbing uncontrolably, falling to their knees and I knew that there was nothing I could or say that would make their suffering any less. In the dream I could see the bodies and the smoke in the aftermath as people were digging through it trying to find things.

When I woke up it was a troubling nightmare that kind of bugged me all day-it was just so vivid.

So today Jenna and I were out running errands and I turned on CNN HLN on the XM Radio and heard about the fire in the Russian Nightclub. I was so freaked out about it I couldn't wait to tell people about the 'premonition'.

But now I can also sense how horrible the families across the world are feeling.

If I'm going dream things that come true I'd much rather dream that I won the lottery or something.

More fun on the road

This week I flew to the glamorous city of Indianapolis. Actually it's a beautiful city and their downtown is nice, vibrant and clean.

However...back to the traveling, since I'm boycotting Northwest Airlines I ended up taking United. Unfortunately they fly out of the old terminal, the Ghetto Terminal.

When I landed in Indy I picked up my rental car. It was really rainy and foggy and I totally didn't see a Stop sign and ended up running it and crossing four lanes of traffic which scared that crud out of me. Fortunately traffic was really light and I didn't really come near hitting anyone.

On the flight home I was lucky enough to sit next to a guy with the grossest smelly breath. Even just by facing forward and breathing normally he was filling the local air with a disgusting odor. I was hoping he'd yawn so I could toss in a Tic Tac.

Once we landed, when it was time for our row to exit I was ready to pop up and get out of there. Unfortunately I forgot to unbuckle first so I jammed myself and rearranged some internal organs.

And of course there's icing on the cake. Returning once again to the Ghetto Terminal I used the restroom on the way out where they offer the finest in hygenic inventions-the Buttwasher 2000. That's the automatic toilet that continuously loops through the flushing cycle the entire time you're 'visitng'.

Ah but nice to be home:-)

Adventures in Travel

Well I got up this morning a little before 4:00 a.m. to drive to a 9:00 appointment in Cincinnati. Last night we picked up my rental car since I don't want to put my travel miles on my car.

About an hour into Ohio my lovely Hyundai Sonata lost all power on I-75. Fortunately it wasn't completely dead, it did sputter along at eight mph.

So I crawled on the shoulder for a couple of miles to get to a well lit exit. In the meantime I called Hertz Roadside Assistance and told the lady who answered of my issues. She asked me to let them know when I get to an exit so they could tell the tow truck driver where to pick me up. However I asked her to stay on the phone with me as it was really creepy and I couldn't think of anyone else to talk to at 5:30 a.m. So she did and I'm now sitting here at a Loves Truck Stop filling myself with unsweet Iced Tea at the Arby's.

At least I have Internet here, a puzzle book and if worse comes to worse my Nintendo DS is in my suitcase.

The Canteen

Last night was the much awaited ‘Hilbert Canteen’. This is a social event for the students at Jenna’s school and since it was before Halloween they got to wear costumes.

Jenna chose a ‘Belly Dancer’ and she actually moves pretty good in it! She went with her friend Jamie who was dressed up in a red outfit with wings. However, since Jamie’s costume had come from a friend who was bigger than her, and was pretty low cut I did have to run home and get her another shirt to wear with it.

All in all they had a great time. They had pizza and got tons of pictures taken with different friends by the school photographer. They had a booth set up for Polaroids for $1.00 and they spent a fortune there.

I had signed up to be a chaperone. It had to be volunteer work because they couldn’t have paid me enough to it! Lots of kids, loud music that I was years away from being familiar with. NO Moody Blues or Kingston Trio. But all in all it as fun. Jenna and Jamie had a great time.

And it was a learning experience for me. I can now name all three Jonas Brothers.

***UPDATE**** OMG-Eric informed me that I had missed a younger Jonas Brother, Frankie, the Bonus Jonas. I stand corrected.

Habitat for Humanity

Well, despite Jimmy Carter's 'out in the wild blue yonder' comments recently I still felt motivated to go help the Sysco Grand Rapid's team on a Habitat for Humanity project.

So I drove in on a Friday evening and cashed in some hotel points for a free room so I could be up and raring to go Saturday morning at 8:00 am in the rain.

The group of us stood outside while the supervisor went over the rules and how Habitat for Humanity works. Then they started whittling down the crowd by talent level.

First they asked who could paint and some people went off with the paint person. Then it was who could do woodwork and that narrowed the group a little more. After about fifteen minutes I was the only one left standing when my call came out! 'Who is totally inept and construction ability deprived' and I jumped up and down shouting 'It's me it's me!!!'. So I got to follow around someone who was drilling holes in walls and then I put some plastic thing in the holes. I don't know if this was really something they needed to do or if they felt obligated to find busy work for me-but it was OK and I felt like I did something.

Next time I'll have to look for volunteer opportunities more my type. I'm still afraid that then the people move in the house might fall down due to the plastic things being put in the holes wrong.

A Day With Westland's Finest

Helicopter Moon Walkers Cool SWAT Team

Today was the much anticipated 'Open House' at the Westland Police Station. Fortunately for me Pattye, Julia and Muffin decided to go to so I wouldn't have to be embarrassed going on my own. I don't know how they liked it but I thought it was AWESOME!

I, I mean, 'we' got to see the Police Helicopter land.

There was a demonstration of a SWAT team which Julia and Nathaniel thought was too loud because they had real sounds of gunfire. But that was really cool-afterwards we all sat in the SWAT truck and talked with a member of the team. VERY COOL! I wanted to ask him if he had any B.O.L.O.'s on any perp's lately...but that's technical COP talk, that you lay people don't need to concern yourself with.

There was also an actual Police Cadet who got tasered. Apparently before they're allowed to have a taser they all have to submit to being tasered so this guy decided to do it for the audience. I felt bad for him, it looked like it hurt. The taser spit out darts that plunged into his back and it incapacitated him for about a minute. And they actually had to yank the darts out. But they said that it didn't hurt because he was so numb from the taser itself. And for those of you who want to know, if you touch someone who is getting tasered, the current won't flow to you like electricity would.

By this time Pat, Jules and Nate had wandered back off into the Moon Walk inflatable bouncer but I followed the crowd to the next demonstration-the drug sniffing dog. And I was so proud, I was standing there with my purse and I didn't even have cause to panic when the dog walked by me:-)

A great fun day for all of us....well, for me anyway.

A Great Soldier

My favorite soldier

Usually I hate sitting next to someone on a plane who insists on talking the whole time. This is usually my prime napping or reading time. Although I do get a lot of usage out of my Nintendo DS at 35,000 feet also.

But yesterday I sat next to a 21 year old girl with an ‘Army Strong’ T-Shirt on. Most of the plane in fact was military. Well she was telling me about life in the Military.

Apparently she joined the army three months ago. As soon as she got to Basic Training she was horrified. She proceeded to tell me that there were bugs in the barracks. And the mattresses weren’t nice, in fact they were quite used.

Not to mention that they had to wear those drab green camouflage outfits ALL THE TIME. And she even took off her shoe to show me the callous she had on her big toe from the uncomfortable boots they gave her.

And don’t even get her going on how early they expected them to wake up every day.

So after three months of Basic Training the Army decided that they needed to part ways, apparently she wasn’t Army material.

Unfortunately it was a quick 40 minute flight from Columbia SC to Atlanta GA. I was bummed when this great insight into her military career was over.

Official Quaker NOT!!!

Well after all of the excitement waiting to become a Quaker, I met with the ‘Clearness Committee’ after Church on Sunday for a couple of hours. We talked about everything from pacifism to tolerance (I assume they weren’t going out on a limb and didn’t mean tolerance of people who don’t look like us cause that’s just crazy talk) (that was humor)….anyway we sat around a table in a little library-like room and ate fresh fruit and talked about the responsibilities of being a Quaker such working to make changes whether they’re small changes to improve a situation or working towards big changes and so on. It was a fine talk-nothing really heavy. Kind of like a bunch of old 1960’s era peaceniks who grew up but still covet the tie dye t-shirts and love beads. No weed though.

Although I did 'fess up to them that if I ever saw someone hurting one of my kids or something I would not hesitate to pick up a club and beat their brains out. So......pacifism unless someone is messing with one of my peeps.

Anyway the bummer was that I missed a step. Now they have to report back to the Membership Committee who approves me as a member. Wow, it was easier buying a house. So the third Sunday in September I’ll be an official Quaker. They already assured me I passed. So I guess I won’t have to start wearing my burkha until then.

Sad Lincoln

Well this past week I was in Lincoln, Nebraska. The place was really nice. The people were outgoing and very friendly and yes-they called ‘pop’ ‘pop’ which I always consider a bonus.

The downtown area was very clean and safe and I went walking every night after work. And the minute I got out of the airport when I arrived I couldn’t believe how fresh and clean their air was.

But the entire week Lincoln made me sad. When I go around the cities that I visit I like to dig into the history of the place. And every plaque that I read on the historic looking buildings said things like ‘This building was erected in 1843 when some company came into town’ etc. The buildings were cool but all it reminded me of was that the history of that whole area was that Europeans bowled through the area, killed or displaced the Native Americans and took over.

I know that it’s not the folks alive today who did that so there were no bad feelings there, but every time I looked over that beautiful area it made me really sad to think about the history that this area was based on.

Not too hip

Well I just got back from the doctor after another week of hip issues. In order to save the hip and not have to have surgery I have to start taking Fish Oil, Vitamin D, get new shoes (I liked this part of it) and continue walking and/or swimming every day. She said that I really need to rebuild the muscles around the hip to avoid surgery. Oh yeah, and that weight loss thing. Obviously she didn't realize that I'm a former captain of a 'Biggest Loser' team.

The cool part of the doctor appointment was that I ran into Deb Hendricks on the way out. We chatted about hips for awhile. When did I get that old?

Well, time for my fresh fruit and afternoon walk......

America Embarrasses Herself Again

Well, America has gone and embarrassed herself in front of the whole world again. Bill Clinton was sent to N. Korea to help free some imprisoned journalists. Don't you think he would have known about the time zone differences? If you look at the picture on the left it's clear that he caught the N. Korean leader still in his jammies. sigh....

Bear 09

Bear 09-What a blast! I was a crazed party animal staying up until after ten both nights. Janny and I drove up Thursday with Jenna and Julia.

We got to meet Holly which was cool-she’s great. Eric and Annie, Fatty and Jean and Marilyn and Charlie came up too as well as Tree and Emily, Jason and Brenda, Pat Chuck and the kids and of course, it wouldn’t be the Bear without Linda and Jim, Adam, Jake, Wayne and Eland and Jason and Nicky and Richie. If not for Jacob and/or Richie I couldn’t go into town or find the dunes.

I got a lot of pictures-at the beach Nathaniel figured out that he could drink up the lake with the snorkel.

The kids loved the pump and Julia and Nathaniel kept filling up cups and watering the stones with it. So probably next year the stones will be much bigger.

At one point I was taking pictures and Annie wanted her picture taken and freaked out until I finally took one…..

Then Janny and I wussed out early and left Saturday afternoon. We had an awesome time-at the Bear who wouldn’t? But we missed the real action-The Frisbee Game-the person who tossed the game winning point? None other than up and coming Frisbee Star Jenna Leppala!!! I’m still excited about that and I wasn’t even there!

Can’t wait ‘til next year.

Life after Alabama

Geneva,

So after working all day at the corporate office in Houston I flew to Detroit where I arrived at 12:30 am. Went home, showered, repacked, watched two hours of the death of Michael Jackson and went back to the airport for a 5:40 am flight to Tallahassee.

Jim picked me up there where we drove to Geneva (couple of hours). I worked at the office in Geneva half the day then went and signed papers at the bank. That was the gist of the visit. Now the house there is in good financial shape and looks great, which is awesome cause we want to sell it.

But it was really a roller coaster of emotions visit.

First of all, every time now that I go to Houston or Geneva it reminds me of being so painfully homesick. I spent about two years in each place and I’m still waiting for the time that I’ll look back on it fondly. I mean both places had their great attributes but being back home in Michigan is no comparison to any of their attributes.

Geneva was a cool experience in a small rural southern town. But true to form we stayed at the 12 unit motel in town cause of course everything is gone from the house. I needed to work so we asked about high speed internet and they assured me that they had it. Great. I wasn’t dressed to go into the office and preferred working comfortably from the hotel room. But I couldn’t connect. After about 40 minutes of trying I finally went to the front desk and asked. She said ‘yes, we have high speed wireless, but it’s not working’. Arrggh. So I had to go to a “Peebles” clothes store in town to get dress pants to go into the office and work.

But work was cool. When I left Geneva I thought it was possibly on flimsy terms with senior management. I had felt at that time that the company was not doing well, which it wasn’t by a long shot. Still isn’t either. So I told them what I believe (and still believe) they were doing wrong and I guess they didn’t want to hear it.

But…..time passes and now that I work for the corporate office my job is to go to our companies and deploy and support a new software program designed to help them out.

So, when I was in Houston I ran into my old bosses from Geneva. We sat outside of the hotel on a picnic table and drank beers and talked all evening and it was like old times with good friends. It was great to see the character development and starting fresh. It was also cool for me to be in a position to be able to help them out. Cooler yet to end every work week back home in the Detroit area.

Woman of Steel

Well my alter ego has been discovered.

I'm in Houston this week training a team of about ten people. Last night they were all going out to a restaurant so I figured they'd be gone a couple of hours at least. I had too much work to do so I just went to my room, got comfy in my jammies and started working.

About 45 minutes later someone from the front desk called to let me know that I had dropped my work badge in the parking lot. So my PJs are just the popular T-Shirt variety with flannel pants so I thought I'd just run down, get my badge and be on my way.

Of course as soon as I get to the front counter my whole team is just walking in the door and there I am, RED FACED in my Superman jammies.

At least now they know that they will be well protected when in my presence.

A Real Success Story!

This is Miss Beverly from the East Texas OPCO. When I first started training their new customer service department last September, Beverly was new to this kind of work. She is a really nice person who has taken in her kids and grandkids and is helping raise them all. She had never had a job that paid as well, or had as many benefits as this job and she really wanted it badly!

But, because it was such a dream for her to get and keep this job she was a nervous wreck. I think that the fact that she was so nervous about not getting it, or worrying about making a mistake that she was having trouble focusing and was so jittery that she was having trouble with even the most basic things.

Fortunately the other three people in the department felt like me-here is a really nice deserving person that needs this job and none of us were going to let her fail. Beverly came in early every day and asked for extra practice and everyone teamed up to support her.

It took the village there to get her to this level-but I just did a six month followup visit to East Texas last week and Miss Beverly is doing fine and is so happy to have this job. It might make her feel good that she made it but I think the rest of us feel even better in seeing her succeed.

Role Models

Role models: Everyone’s got ‘em. Whether you’re conscious of them or not-you’ve got them. The trick is to make them good ones! If your role model is a rap star going to prison for illegal gun trade then maybe you should rethink that one.

Fortunately I think I lucked out. I have my brother Jim for a role model. Jim, (who Janet is a lot like) has always been success driven, with minimal excitement levels, but smart and funny with the famous Turner dry wit. Growing up it was always easy to look up to him, he did great in school and I always loved school. He learned a lot of neat things and continues to learn-which might be why I’m just starting to plug away in the piano world while working on learning German.

When we were little he entered a Bike Parade and there was contest for the best decorated bike, and Jim, always looking to be the best at what he does of course had the best decorated bike and won a nice new bike-even got his picture in the paper. How cool is that.

He was the Life Guard and Red Cross certified. He was a Life Guard at our Church Camp and once gave mouth to mouth to a guy having a heart attack at a Bowling Alley! On a lesser scale, but still more ingrained in my memory is when I stepped on a colored toothpick and I was hysterical (Imagine that) but he calmed me down and took care of it.

He even did fun things with his schooling-I remember his ‘log cabin’ made out of Pretzel Sticks that I think he made in college.

Me and Doris used to go visit him in his office in Ann Arbor and I always thought that was so cool that he had his own office and a good job.

Now that he’s retired he got a very cool article in a U of M magazine for the Architecture Department.

Best of all is how he has always helped me out when I call him with stupid things-like every time I had to figure out a percentage, I could never remember how to do that. It’s nice to have that person that you can call like that.

So all of you are looking up to rapper TI-you might want to spend the next 365 days before he gets out of jail, readjusting your goals.

That's What It's All About!

All the traveling, all the moving back up north. All the cooking, (Which I didn’t really do but it sounds good). But it’s all worth every minute of it if it leads to a good party and lots of company.

Yep I couldn’t be happier than a house full of company! Well yeah, then there’s those down times reading and vegging on the couch watching TRU TV that are pretty sweet too but parties are nice.

It was a great Memorial Day/Birthday party for Eland, Kimmie (25) (I mean Kim) and Julia(7). Julia lucked out and not only had a #7 candle on the cake but seven candles to blow out also.

Quite an athletic show in the backyard too with Frisbee all the way in the back and some baseball with ‘loose’ rules near the back porch.

Pretty soon I’m going to have to get all of the bees out of the play house and have the kids come paint it up. Although Jenna was sure happy-she found a Teen Beat magazine with….YES!!!!! The Jonas Brothers (Ah be still my heart)

So it was a fun day although a diet buster with all the cake and Ice Cream but hey, it would be rude not to partake on their special days……

So back to work, but that’s OK if it’ll lead to more parties-and I promise.

Sysco Chicks

My work started a 'Biggest Loser' contest. Well, I'm game since I certainly need something to motivate me. I managed to get a team of four co-workers although that's a pretty sensitive and touchy thing to do. I had to send emails to my friends at work and ask them if they'd like to join a weight loss program. I managed to get some positive responses but I'm still not sure how many I ticked off.

The contest lasts for twelve weeks. The team name we voted on is 'Sysco Chicks'. Friday was our first weigh in since the contest started and our group lost a total of 20 lbs. (5 each on an average) Not exactly the dazzling 'Size 8 here I come' result I was looking for.

Somehow they made me the team captain. I know they wouldn't have done that if they knew that awhile back I joined Weight Watchers for awhile with Nancy and I gained 12 pounds.

I did make motivational work out T-Shirts for our team so maybe that will help. (No, not with my smiling, waving face on them).

Hopefully in the near future people will be coming up and asking me if I'm Jean's little sister. In the meantime though I think I'll go have a delicious rice cake. Mmmmmm

Sick Sucks and Great Inventions

First of all, I've been sick about a week now and it sucks. Right now I'm sitting here just kind of staring off blankly at my computer although I'm supposed to be driving to Pittsburgh for work. But I'm just sitting here blowing my nose with a vacuous look, much like I've had all week.

Even used up three sick days at work and didn't do anything overly exciting for all of that time off. Nope, just spent all week filling up Kleenex.

Which brings me to the exciting part of being sick-the discovery of yet another world class creation by some total genius whose birthday I would celebrate if I knew when it was.

Before I share the new highlight of modern technology may I remind you all of the past triumphs....first of all, Immodium AD. And to anyone who has appreciated the success of this little white pill than I need say no more about its virtues.

And how about the person who invented stretchy waist bands on pants. Another unsung hero. Someone who has made dressing up for work a much more pleasant experience for me.

And now this weeks winner is the person at the Puffs Invention Laboratory that took a regular old tissue and not only added lotion, but God Love Ya buddy, you added Vicks Vapo Rub too! Yep, with every soft blow there's a little shot of fresh air in the ol' nostrils. If the inventor of this product reads this blog please send me your picture-there is surely room in a frame on my desk.

Adventures With Pattye

Well a fun filled Saturday evening with Pattye started out with a trip to view the house I think I'm buying (15450 Oporto). Then we went to Chilli's and got the White Chocolate Lava Dessert mmmmmmmm.

The off to the Borders on Ford Road in Canton where she picked up a zillion page copy of 'The Count Of Monte Cristo' (I should have realized right at that point that she wasn't feeling well cause who in their right state of mind would want that?) but Pattye was still saving the best for last.

We stopped by the new Hobby Lobby on Ford, walked to the back of the store where she informed me that she wasn't feeling well. She was weak and wobbly. She didn't think she could make it to the front of the store so we were looking for a cart for her to lean on when she lost all of her energy and started slumping to the floor. I grabbed on to her and broke her fall and she ended up laying face up in the middle of the aisle. Her face was as white as new snow. She felt so bad that she asked me to call 911 which I did. The help at Hobby Lobby as well as the customers were really nice.

But my favorite part of the evening was when, after the EMT people arrived and were standing over her, one of them asked her if she had any pain. She replied 'no' and just then he accidentally bumped into a display and knocked a big box on her face. Then she said 'Now I have pain'.

So they dragged her off in the big red Emergency Truck to St. Mary's of Livonia to visit Bev. Me and Eric and Annie and Charlie and the kids were all there. Jenna was really concerned and made Pattye a Get Well Card right there on the spot. She's so sensitive.

Afterwards I took the kids home while Charlie waited with Pattye.

I'm still in town next weekend so I'm anxious to see what Pattye has planned for then. By the way, it looks like she was just short on potassium and liquids. My suggestion? a Banana Margarita.

A Real War Hero

I went to see the Hunley last week. I’ve always wanted to. It’s a really early version of a submarine that was actually used in combat during the Civil War. What interested me about it was the technology they thought of, using the understanding of science that they had at that time. In that light it was really interesting how they could convince eight people to go in this experimental vessel for several hours, knowing that two earlier attempts killed most of the people on board. But they found their eight people and they did it.

So, from a technology standpoint it was pretty cool. But as usual, for an old history lover like me, most of the history that is recorded deals with warfare and to me, warfare seems so illogical that I can’t believe we’re still trying to decide things using combat in the 21st century.

During the civil war, the people pretty much looked like us and talked like us. They lived in the areas we go to all the time. During a battle, if someone had looked around at all the dead and dying guys laying around, moaning and crying and missing their loved ones, did anyone look around and say ‘This is stupid-look what we’re doing to each other.’ To me, that would have been a real war hero.

Charleston South Carolina by the way was also very cool. The historic part of town is clean, popular and you can walk around safely late at night. The buildings are awesome as far as how well kept they are for their age and you can really get a feel of what it was a hundred years ago or more. I’d rather think about the parties people had though, and the music they played and listened to instead of the ‘glamorous’ words of war.

Jake's Cake

Well a little late but here goes. A couple of weeks ago there was a birthday party at Janny’s house for Jenna, Nathaniel, Nicky and me.

So I’m standing in the kitchen with three cakes next to me and no urge to take the can of Betty Crocker ‘Easy to Use’ (That’s a lie) icing in a can-because I know how frustrating it is to use.

So we talked Jacob into writing Muffin on his Carrot Cake. That icing squirted out like a warped can of Silly String in a zero gravity tank. I think at first Jacob felt bad at how it came out, even though it looked pretty darned good to me. BUT, after he saw everyone elses results he had to feel pretty darned good about himself.

That icing has only one redeeming quality and that’s the fact that it tastes good when you tilt your head back and squirt it directly into your mouth. But for cakes, it’s really hard and we appreciate Jacob having the guts to try the first cake.

Detroiters at Hotels

So I’m in a fairly nice hotel in the Shady Grove area of Memphis, Tennessee. Yesterday my day of work ended up a little early so I was sitting in my hotel room, on a chaise lounge working on some documents on my laptop.

My room had already been serviced so I was just relaxing and creating a PowerPoint document. All of a sudden a big angry looking burly lady blasted her way into my room. It was so quick, there was no knock, no announcement-I didn’t hear a key at the door or anything. I seriously thought it was a break in.

I stood up and let out a line of colorful language….”What the )(*&$% are you doing? Get out of here”, I challenged her. From behind her back she held up some big towels and said “I was refilling your bath towels”.

I said, “Oh, towels. Um, yeah, thanks”.

Since I didn’t throw anything at her during the misunderstanding, or even pounce on her does this mean that I still don’t have hotel creds?

The joys of traveling

Well I’m in West Virginia. I count heavily on my GPS (A wonderful geographic location system available ONLY through Janet Leppala at AT&T). I count on it not only because I travel so much but basically because even back at home in Michigan I have trouble finding my way out of a parking lot.

But yesterday I was backtracking on a trip that I had made the day before, only two roads so I knew I wouldn’t need to bother with the GPS. So after I made my first turn I knew I went the wrong way because instead of a small town I was seeing nothing but dusty coal mining operations and no towns or homes.

But the biggest panic was when, after ten miles I start seeing signs for a Virginia Hospital. Not a West Virginia Hospital but a Virginia Hospital. I’m wracking my brains out trying to figure what I did so wrong to end me up in Virginia. Trying to remember those old jigsaw puzzles of the USA, how could I have screwed up so bad that I crossed all the way into Virginia instead of hugging the Ohio border like I thought I was.

After I finally made a U-Turn it occurred to me that it was a VA Hospital, not a Virginia Hospital.

Yep, another day in paradise.

Julia's Silence

Well, I've gotta admit, I think Linda probably nailed it on the head.

Last week I took Julia and Jenna to the Quaker Church. During the first 20 minutes the kids sit in the Church quietly then go to a traditional Sunday School. Then when they went to their Sunday Schools I just thought Julia was being really shy because she didn't say a thing the whole time in her class.

Thanks Linda for pointing it out that I probably didn't mention to her that she WAS allowed to speak outside of the Church room. Whoops, I missed giving her that little tidbit of information.

What an obedient kid!

There goes my 'Grandma of the Year' award......

Little Quakes

Quaker fun for Jenna and Julia yesterday! Jenna has been to the Quaker Church in Houston for a year but Julia had never been there. We went to the one on Hill Street in Ann Arbor yesterday. And a full crowd there too-80 people!

The gist of it is: there’s no minister, no music, no hymnal, no books. It’s like the silent prayer at a regular church but it lasts the whole hour. The kids sit in church in silence for the first twenty minutes then leave and go to their Sunday School. There are little pouches with small stuffed animals and quiet toys for the smaller kids to play with so that they can keep still so we got one for Julia.

Well, since it was Julia’s first time I thought we’d practice and sit in the lobby for the first twenty minutes to see how she did.

Julia did great! Not a peep out of her and she sat still the whole time. Jenna however made it eight minutes and then she was about bouncing off the walls. Maybe she needs the pouch of quiet toys too. Although she did have Hoppy (Thor) with her.

But when it came time for going to Sunday School Julia was suddenly stricken with shyness. She finally went in and sat down after a lot of coaxing.

When I went to pick up Julia after church the door was closed to her Sunday School so I stood outside and listened for a minute. I heard the teacher say ‘Julia would you like to tell us about yourself yet?’. Nothing. Then, the other kids talked about a picture they drew and the teacher said ‘Julia would you like to tell us about your picture?’. Nothing. I guess she didn’t speak the entire time, but when I finally got her she said ‘Oh boy can I come back next week?’

1-20-09 End of an Error

So I hopped out of bed this morning at the crack of dawn (well, 7:45 am, that’s the crack of dawn for me) just to stand on the porch in the cold and snow in my jammies to take a picture of the dawn of the rebirth of our country.

Now the funny thing is, even though I like Political Science, I had never been overly patriotic. Even in elementary school I refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance from kindergarten on forward.

I know that I took for granted what we have here. I just thought that our way of life is the way it is. But over the last eight years I saw how far down we as a country could slide and it started really scaring me.

First we made up fake reasons to pick on people around the world. Then we stuffed our pockets and our friends pockets with money while everyone else’s finances slip down the tubes and they lost their jobs and their homes.

The morale in this country has been at an all time low and I’m finally so happy to see the excitement in so many people for a change-because we’re getting a change.

Yep, I’m celebrating the rebirth of this country. And you bet that the gestation period was long and ugly and the labor pains were horrible and yes, we really did get screwed to get to this point but we’ve got an exciting future ahead of us now!

Another day in Paradise

Days like this I have to say I sure like my job. Fortunately I have a lot of days like this. But for today here is the reason….

First there’s the early morning drive through Newark New Jersey to get to the office. I love being able to visit different places and meeting new people and I get to travel all over the country.

Then I saw, for the first time in my life the real Statue of Liberty. I thought that was so cool that it will be the subject of its own blog.

And then the job itself, I mean here I am, little old Jeanie Turner walking around chatting with presidents of a Fortune 500 Company talking about pricing strategy. That part never fails to amaze me.

I worked all day installing software on laptops. There’s always little quirks that have to be worked out and I enjoy doing it and it makes me feel smart. Then there was a training session and I love training.

Then we all went out to dinner at a fancy restaurant. Yes, I hate fancy restaurants, I always have. I never know what half the words on the menu mean and I sure don’t know how to eat it once I get it. And I really can’t understand why you’d pay 50.00 for dinner when you could buy 25 TV dinners for that kind of money. But-this place had a great view of downtown NYC and the Statue of Liberty. In fact it was called Liberty Place.

All in all it really was another day in paradise.

The Best Year Ever

For me 2008 has been the best year ever and I have every reason to celebrate it.

Last New Years Eve I was in Michigan but had to drive back to Geneva, Alabama where I lived and worked. This was my fourth year in the south for work.

Yes when I first moved down south to Houston there was an excitement of opportunity and growth. In some aspects I think it was just a matter of proving myself to myself. And it was a good adventure, I ended up making a ton of new friends, made it going into a town and a company where I didn’t know anyone and feel that I succeeded. It made me feel strong in a way that I never felt before.

But the best lesson of all was one I already thought I knew. Family is the top of the list of what matters.

I am blessed with a great family. Somehow my kids ended up being more awesome than I could have dreamed of. They are smart, nice and show compassion and love. And they feel loved and self confident and that is the greatest achievement a parent can have I think.

Also I inherited a great bunch of friends and ex-relatives when I married into the Leppala family. After an amicable divorce I still kept the friends and family.

Somehow sitting in a group of people that you have only known a few months is nothing compared to sitting in a group of people with whom you have a rich history. Sure you can make basic conversation and joke around but without the deep roots it’s just trite and meaningless.

So finally when I returned after Christmas break last year I walked into my bosses office and informed him that I couldn’t do it any more.

Like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz I just kept wanting to click my heels together and go home because I had learned how true it is ‘There’s No Place Like Home’.

These last few days this year of the New Years Eve Party and New Years Day dinner with friends and family was the great illustrator of what was missing in the South for me. Treats like Richie’s fudge taken from the official ‘Fudge Server’. The all important Air Hockey Tournament’. Getting together at Richie’s for Sloppy Joes and checking out the award winning needlecraft that his mom made. Taking Julia and Jenna to get their ears pierced.

These are the things that you can’t buy anywhere but make my life the beautiful adventure it is.