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.