Amy’s Gripping Commentary

As I’ve stated in the past, I’m not big on goals and year summaries and plans. But I’d like to comment on a few items from the past twelve months in an effort to at least remember where we’ve been and where we’re going. This blog serves as my diary, so when I forget everything I have a place to go to review my life!

2009 was a big year for personal finance since I became debt free and increased my retirement and savings significantly. I finally opened that Roth, messed with life insurance, and purchased disability insurance. I even got tough and ditched my financial adviser, who wasn’t the right fit. David and I became officially domestically-partnered in the eyes of my employer, which will simplify health insurance this year even if there are some tax penalties. Financial freedom makes just about everything else possible, like…

Planning a move to Ireland! Yikes. Looks like it will be early March now for the actual flight. I’m excited but that is overwhelmed by the, uh, overwhelmingness of it all. I am really worried about my sick pets right now and I’m trying hard to get them stable to prepare for this move.

Half our pets are mostly geriatric and have been ill lately, and of course we lost Joey this year, but it’s still worth having them around for the years they do allow us to share. Remind me of this the next time I have to think about something happening to Casper now that she’s dealing with renal failure.

Rabbit rescue lightened in volume, part of a planned effort for several of us not to drive ourselves the rest of the way crazy, plus in this small house there just isn’t room for many fosters. Still, I can recall that Tink, Harrison, Louie, Jolene, Baxter, Quincy, Eponine, Bill, Tegan, and Raquel stayed here in 2009, and 43 were adopted from the chapter. Always good. And no giant horrible neglect cases to sap our strength, either, thank goodness.

Work is still good, in that so far I still have a good job I like and while the industry has its significant struggles, as of yet our pay and employment haven’t been affected (and they’re sending me to Europe, ya know!). Bonus time is around the corner, one which should be good this year but I expect the next few years will have none. All the more reason to be debt free and have an emergency fund!

I was hit by a car while on my bike and lived to tell about it! Other mentionables, most of which I’m too lazy to link: I made a good attempt at gardening, and I’m proud of my efforts even though David focuses on my failures; more cooking experiments; trips to Chicago, the Smokies, Oak Ridge and Air Force museums; a stolen credit card number; Casper won a photo contest; charity walks and rides; sold my house; DNA tested our mutt; joined the worthy timesuck that is Facebook; got a real haircut (and still don’t do anything with it!); a few more dental adventures; and of course all the recycling and veggie dishes you could stand. We are also now the proud owners of extra insulation, a rain barrel, and Energy Star-rated toilet, fridge, and water heater.

Regrets. Well, I never feel in control of clutter or time or sleep, and I wish I had exercised more, but overall there are worse things to regret. I need to make peace with these stressors, and I think moving abroad will help me focus since I have to leave the clutter behind. Will someone please get rid of it while I’m gone? Small plans include revamping the blog a bit and getting rid of more stuff around the house. Big plans include moving to freakin’ Ireland and taking advantage of that adventure! I have a few ideas in mind.

Let’s wrap up with how the world sees me through Google!

Clickthrough : Users clicked on your site in these searches
# % Query Position
1 27% cork ireland 2
2 13% poo chart 2
3 12% bristol stool chart 2
4 6% cork, ireland 3
5 3% stool chart 2
6 3% animal testing 6
7 2% natalie portman feet 1
8 2% cymbal monkey 2
9 2% bunny teeth 1
10 2% my feet 1
11 2% county cork ireland 3
12 2% flemish giants 3
13 2% evil-lyn 17
14 1% natalie portman’s feet 0
15 1% stop animal testing 1
16 1% guinea pig teeth 2
17 1% monkey symbols 2
18 1% abused animals 20
19 1% allihies ireland 1
20 1% cork ireland pictures 1
21 1% the bristol stool chart 1
22 1% cork county ireland 3
23 1% ireland cork 3
24 1% ribbon like stools 3
25 1% county cork 5
26 1% mallet toe 5
27 1% betadine 12
28 1% elfyourself 23
29 1% feet 62

One dang post each on feet, poop, and Ireland kind of skews the results. I made some edits to try to steer away the feet weirdos, at least. This Google search also found my site: “farts you just can’t trust them”

And, of course: Village Panty.

Arliss has been sick lately. A few hundred in diagnostics and supportive care early this week didn’t turn up much more than the dental disease we knew about and dehydration, but now she was needing tooth trims every six weeks or sooner, so it was time to ditch the incisors.

Over four years ago she had one removed, and I commented how she would hopefully not need trims in the future. Well, we got through the meantime with fewer-than-annual trims, but suddenly she was having problems, so there ya go. I let that vet back then talk me into just removing one tooth, and I guess four healthy years aren’t so bad.

Well, now it was time for the other three to go, this time with a different vet. A few hundred more bucks, and she came home today looking rough (the first picture) but at least is eating on her own. The vet did find some pus down in the lower root area, which mirrors the problem four years ago. Hopefully her flushing it well will prevent further abscessing. The vet suggested something like that probably happened from an impact or fall, and I was thinking how she used to geronimo off the closet shelves in my old house…

We had some serious bonding time today when I discovered they’d forgotten to take the catheter out of her leg and I had to do it! I had a hard time getting the bandage off and I’m sure it hurt to be moving that thing around, but she put up with me. I gave her good pain meds and she’s resting somewhat comfortably now. Arliss will be ten in a couple of months and has been pretty healthy over that decade, and I’m hoping this will be the last major thing for the rest of her life. Her molars and bloodwork look good, so I’m hopeful. The vet said as we were leaving today she hopes we can make her “one of those 14-year bunnies!”

Walter took this opportunity to ask for a belly rub.

I am not responsible for that window trim color, which looks worse in person. Let’s just leave it at that. (You may remember our house painting argument history.) But did you notice my cascading flowers are still doing great on December 4? And that orchid just below grew all those buds in the last two weeks. Who says there’s no global warming…

I took this week off work and have been pretty much lying around, still recovering from last week’s illness and also unfortunately doing some work from home. I have (not particularly intentionally) reverted to my night owl ways, staying up very late and sleeping until normal persons’ lunch times. Something about 2 a.m. just seems like a great time to start projects or settle down to watch TV to me.

After illness and work stress and just not wanting to leave the house, we decided to stay home for Thanksgiving. It’s the first time I did not eat with one of our families. It was great! Of course I missed the folks at home, but I just didn’t want to drive six hours in a day, or even to David’s family event closer to home. And get this: I made great food I was excited to eat! Being vegetarian at Thanksgiving provides a lot of side dish opportunities but is overall not the meal I used to look forward to when I was a kid. This time, I chose the menu, and holy cow I haven’t had gravy that good in years.

The mushroom and spinach galette was ok to good (NPR article/recipe); the pastry is a bit dry for my tastes but the filling has promise in another application. But the gravy recipe at that page was terrific! I suppose all the fat (olive oil) and flavor (onions, garlic, veg broth, spices) just came together in a way that reminded me of the tasty drippings of yore. Tasty, yes, but again this year I adopted a turkey instead.

David made mashed potatoes and I whipped up the standard roasted veggies for a meal so filling I didn’t have room for the pumpkin pie I also made. I’m excited about the (gravy) leftovers! I had intended to do a Quorn turk’y roast as well but Kroger was out and we had way too much food anyway.

eat more chicken vegetables graffiti, Indianapolis

Of course today was Black Friday, and while I look forward to the ads for some reason (still a holdover from a history of the expectations of the season), I’m not usually compelled to go out in the fray. This time I considered it, then figured out I could shop online and actually pay less with online discounts than going to the doorbusters at ‘o-dark-thirty. Then I went back to bed!

When we were kids, we would craft our wish lists from looking at the Sears Wish Book and any other catalogs that came to the house. We often had rating systems to indicate how badly we wanted particular gifts. I remember the moms and grandmas and aunts getting together after Thanksgiving meal to discuss who was buying what for which kid–we knew to stay out of that room so they could decide! From then until Christmas was an exciting time, and I don’t think we were too spoiled, but maybe I just think that because our cousins got more junk than we did! It was easy to think we sacrificed for the family financial good when they had new stereos and TVs in their rooms each year while we just shared a video game system two years after it was initially released. I think our families were careful to get the items we would really play with, and the anticipation of Santa and stockings and the surprise Big Presents at the end of marathon gift opening sessions all made for a pretty neat holiday–not to mention the big family meals and waiting to watch each person open something in turn rather than tearing into the pile at once.

I still really enjoy Christmas, but I try very hard not to ask for or purchase items that won’t be valued and used. I definitely take more pleasure in buying for others now and in watching what others receive. It’s relaxing not to worry whether I’ll get some new gadget because I’m now in a position to just get it myself if needed. I try not to take that for granted. And I’ll be making my own gravy this Christmas as well.

“What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?”
-Adam Smith

The quote doesn’t have direct relation to this post but I really liked it the other day, and identified with it. It does set the stage for how I feel about preparing myself to be more flexible for opportunities that come my way by being “stable” in life, which I guess is a comment at least on financial and professional well-being, or just being in a good place. Allow me to share the big news, the decision that has given me nightmares, the huge change on the horizon:

We are moving to Ireland. Holy shit.

A couple of months of are you mobile? will you? maybe? for two years. is there a budget? wait for the meeting. what do you think? here are the benefits. dog quarantine. abandon pets. no, wait, only for a year and lesser benefits. hand wringing. never mind, good benefits are back. paperwork issues to cover domestic partner. how about insurance? most questions answered. And the answer is…yes?

Now, nothing is official until all the paperwork is done and visas are granted, but after all this time of not knowing and feeling like life has been on hold while figuring out how to handle an international move without really telling anyone has been pretty challenging. I feel like I will regret it if I don’t take this opportunity and I’ll never be offered another chance if I turn it down now. My employer is cutting jobs and yet asking if I would like to spend a year abroad at their expense. I’ve always wanted to do something like that. In fact, it’s just ‘life’ getting in the way that makes it hard: David’s business and our pets, and the general hassle of figuring out what to do with your stuff. But I have been saving money, simplifying my possessions and expenses and life, all to be able to take an opportunity just like this! It seems almost perfect: I’ll have the same job but in a new place and my employer pays all the expenses to get me there and back, and pays for my housing and car too. There will never be a better offer, I will never be less entrenched in life, I have enough funds to make it fun and I’m still young enough to call it an adventure but old enough that I don’t want to always sleep in hostels when I go on vacation. Add to that a partner who seems willing to try the adventure and we’re in business.

David and the dogs get to come. It’s hard to figure out how he will maintain a business back home (let alone an income in Ireland without a work permit), but we think he’ll stay behind the first couple of months while the dogs finish their at-home quarantine. Now I have to work to find guardians for my rabbits, an agonizing part of the decision to go. I have bunny friends I trust and I will set up a stipend plus cover vet fees, but a lot of my nightmares have been about doing wrong by my pets. Was it not contacts in rabbit rescue that got me this job in the first place? How can I send Arliss and Vegas to live with someone else? They’re OLD! Plus the pigs, who at least seem to have a place with my parents. And there’s even a frog becoming homeless.

There are so many things to plan I don’t quite know where to start, but at least I seem to be past the nightmare/decision stage and now we’re getting into the practical planning stuff. Departure for me won’t be for a couple of months. Just how much prep will I get done? Can I purge some of my belongings? I love the idea of living simply (a furnished place where I can’t haul most of my stuff anyway is a great starting point), but wow. Just figuring out what to do for a cell phone (this would be why I still haven’t gotten that iPhone) and banking and OH GEEZ I HAVE TO DRIVE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET… it can be overwhelming. Exciting, yes, but I’m a planner and this is stressful.

Short term: line up pet care (and get the buns healthy) and figure out what’s going to happen to the house while we’re gone. Mid-term: buy raingear? Couple months: move by myself and entertain myself for a couple of months. After that: stress about dogs in cargo hold.

But I bet County Cork will be fun!

Any advice is appreciated.

One of my latest deals was a free-after-rebate version of our antivirus software, which expired a week or so ago. It’s actually two rebates and I left it on my desk for awhile. Day 29 of 30 arrived and I sat down to process my rebate. But oh no! It’s Saturday after the post office is closed! I need a postmark by Sunday to qualify. Dang, $45 lost. Or is it?

I checked out Stamps.com to see if I could print postage. They keep advertising their deal (‘free’ if you pay shipping for their postal scale which hooks up to your computer, plus $25 in postage credits over three months, and no monthly charge the first 30 days), but their FAQ made it sound like you HAD to have the scale to use the service. I just needed to mail first class letters, not weigh packages. I decided to give it a shot and what do you know, I printed a lovely couple of Sunday-postmarked envelopes. The first $5 of postage is free with the trial (and I didn’t have to order the scale) so I didn’t even pay to send these.

The software downloaded and installed easily, was intuitive, had helpful pop-up messages to get me started (I skipped the demos and webinars), and it helped me easily configure and test my printer without wasting postage first. It also automatically posted a Monday date on the sample view, but I told it I wanted the current Sunday date. It gave me a warning but still let me do it. (It does not let you backdate before the current date, though I didn’t fiddle with the PC clock or anything to see if that would work.) The software also appears to have a way to deal with printer mishaps so you don’t lose postage if the envelope jams, but I didn’t have to explore that feature.

The downside is that this service costs about $18 per month, so I’ll have to cancel in a couple of weeks during the trial period. I wouldn’t mind reloading my postage account with a credit card and just printing from home on a regular basis, so I wish they offered a fee-free service like that. They apparently discount some postage as part of the service (I guess because the barcodes are already on the mail and that saves the physical post office time), so a free or very cheap service without postage discounts would be nice.

Well, at least I’ll get these rebates out the door. I might get unlucky and the post office will re-postmark my stuff and then the rebate people will reject me, but it was worth a try. Since I barely use a book of stamps in a year (hooray online bill pay), the paid service just won’t do me any good.

Holy moly I have a lot of work to do this week. How come everyone else went on vacation?

Nicole and I will have to do more study halls. It’s easier to focus on working from home when someone else suffers with ya.

Several years ago we discovered a reasonable way to manage work and stay caught up was to be ‘in the window.’ Our email has to fit on one screen in our mail program. The last time I was in the window was about three and a half years ago. I’m also at 172% of my allotted email space in the system. Go me!

Someone egged our house this weekend. It was about 90 degrees so it pretty much baked right to the porch. Fun neighborhood! I can’t help but think it has something to do with the punk kid next door. Usually his Rott jumps the fence and tears up our trash but unless the dog grew thumbs, someone else has it out for us. I was mad the other day that they let the dog (I assume it was theirs–high probability given the number of times I’ve seen him standing in our yard) leave a steaming pile in our front yard and they sat on the porch and did nothing about it. So I mowed over it and they had to smell it. Eggs may be payback?

Just got a ‘good job’ email from my manager to my boss. At least someone notices I’m trying to get a few things done. And today was nacho bar!

www.nataliedee.com

I struggle constantly with The List running through my head: all the crap I should do. I keep written lists sometimes and then got excited when Google came up with a notes-tracking application, except my stupid work computer has an old browser which I cannot upgrade and therefore I can’t use that application except at home (nor see much flash, nor load a lot of pages, nor get the computer going in less than six minutes–but that’s more a RAM problem I think).

So I signed up for Evernote, but so far haven’t really done much with it. I would rather have a quick link from my Gmail. Is there some other application that would be better? Actually I think once I (probably) get that iPhone I’ll solve my always-available-paperless-to-do-list problem quickly, perhaps then with Evernote.

Anyway my ambitious self thinks I should do all this crap. And in the late afternoon when I want to leave work but have more work to do, I keep thinking how much stuff I’ll do when I get home. By the time I get home I’m just tired and cranky and downright lazy. I need to figure out what legal drug could get me zippy and productive in the evening but still allow me to sleep! Or something. I will say melatonin before bed has been helpful to regulate my sleep more. I get sleepy faster and it’s a whole lot easier to get out of bed in the morning–maybe that’s the miracle that will ultimately get more things off my List!

A sampling so I can feel accountable:

bond Arliss and Waldo somebody (Waldo was adopted!)
finish reorganizing and cleaning bunny room
clean pig cage
scrape brick David did it!
change Jetta headlight AGAIN
clean car
get grids, get and plant hostas from Dawn
paint front porch trim
repot mint plants
mulching
medicate Vegas (re-vet Vegas’ sneeze? and Harrison’s limp? pigs need vetting too)
more dog walking, cycling, and running
haircut
meal planning
more cooking/less eating out
pick up rain barrel at KIB
call cable company to yell about the latest price hike
iPhone purchase
TV shopping
path forward: Tivo vs DVR/other source
refill Casper’s meds
update Casper’s microchip
rehab front porch mess
canoeing
iTunes from old computer
finish video edit
desk cleanoff
laundry room reorg
de-fridge the basement
continue decluttering at home
ditch financial adviser/meet w/new one
mail passport renewal
respond to old email
send Father’s Day gift to Dad
organize recipes (still looking for advice on that) I just went with a binder with tabs for now. My elegant electronic version will have to wait
go through clothes for Goodwill
dust/vacuum hooray for paying a friend to clean!

I noticed a couple of these were still there from the list I made last year…

There’s an equally long list at work, one which stresses me even more.

Earthlink update! Remember how my email stopped working in December and they were able to hang up on me but not fix the problem? This week I got an overdue bill and they threatened collections! LOL. No worries, all resolved now. And I’m happy to report they never actually got a dime from me. I hope I wasted their server space and CSR time. Navigating their phone tree was enough to make me furious all over again.

I have AT&T cell service. I actually like it, or rather, I have no problems with it and it’s pretty cheap since I don’t have many minutes or services, I get a discount from work, and I have tons of rollover minutes. I didn’t like Verizon much but that was several years ago so I don’t really have recent data. David likes Sprint. All I know is I HATE my cable provider (Brighthouse) and I’m about ready to unplug the TVs.

Also I just sold my house and made my last car payment so I have a little more cash around.

Ok, so there’s a new iPhone coming out and it’s really not that expensive since I can do an upgrade, plus the older models are pretty cheap now. I’ve been thinking my next phone would be an iPhone or Blackberry or equivalent, mostly because dang it I need to check the weather and maps and stuff when I’m out and about. I turned off the internet abilities on my current cell phone because the stupid button was too easy to press accidentally and I kept getting charged when I didn’t even get online. And of course it’s hard to surf on a more traditional cell phone (even David’s smartphone is a PITA since there’s no touchscreen and no trackball). What’s kind of dumb is that I bought my phone based on cnet.com reviews because it’s so good at mp3s and was overall highly rated on its features, but I haven’t played a single song on it nor do I do anything but make calls and take pictures!

I want to take pictures and send them to Facebook or my blog (right now I have to remove the battery and put the microSD card in an adapter and all that crap so anything will be better…but to be fair I never learned how I could Bluetooth it), check email and random stuff online, and I guess I should probably start texting. I can see how it would be convenient. I also know the next rate plan will be much more expensive, and I’m free to do whatever since I’m out of contract right now. But is there another product that is just as good? Should I wait until my phone really dies? I guess as long as I like it and I don’t feel like I got hosed I’ll be happy on an iPhone like anyone else.

My phone is a little over two years old and is starting to turn itself off randomly. I can deal with it, but with the iPhone release and some online deals, I’m thinking I might switch sooner. My friends with iPhones love them and the apps seem really cool, but alas I haven’t been keeping up with the hype so I don’t know what size phone to get (I don’t think I’ll be storing much data, but are there other considerations?), what the actual charges are going to be for a data plan (interestingly hard to get that info from AT&T’s site), how much apps are and what that means for using my satellite radio with it, what ‘unlocked’ really means and should I care, if I can use a cashback deal and how that works since I’m already a customer, can I buy it online in the first place, will I be able to dial one-handed in the car w/o looking at the phone (best part of having actual number buttons, right? but I think it does voice recognition now), can I use my Bluetooth headpiece with it, and what pitfalls to avoid in general. I know better than to wander into a store and just sign up without learning a few things online first.

So basically: is there a catch-up site where I can read a FAQ and learn what I need to know about all that is iPhone? Otherwise I’m calling Carlton.

Unabashedly data-driven, I try to out-think surveys and big-picture what you’re asking me before you finish the question. But send me to a teambuilding exercise and I must summon all my inner strength, rationing my energy to last through the workshop and not poke my eyes out. I am blue, according to this course, and the people who create these courses and make me go to them are NOT.

I have been to other workshops in the past, most more painful than this one, and I attribute the lessened pain to the fact that while I’m an introvert, I’ve developed skills over the years to help me work pretty well with people. (Also, this event happened with a team I’ve been a part of for several years and we already get along pretty well, plus most of us are blue, so there weren’t any big surprises…but then it wasn’t as effective either and I think a lot of us were frustrated with missing a day of work.) The problem with personality-analyzing teambuilding classes, for me, is that it exposes how incompetent I am naturally (at least that’s how I tend to read my personality assessments) and makes me doubt all the confidence boosts I’ve had as I’ve seen my skills grow. Basically, team building takes me back a few steps. I was physically drained for hours after this event as well.

The good information from these exercises is learning what helps me work effectively, what things I can work on, and acknowledging what drives me nuts. But most of that I’ve already figured out (analyzing data, after all) and once you get a grasp of your general assessment (INTJ or blue, specifically Coordinating Observer, or CIR or whatever you want to call it in my case), you don’t really need to rehash it, and you especially don’t want to do it in a group with a lot of flip charts or *shudder* roleplaying.

A few highlights of my expensive assessment:
-I am motivated by avoiding frequent meetings, an internal desire “to do the right thing in the right way,” a job well done, and “systems” related tasks.
-I may benefit from relaxing mentally and not trying to out-think everyone, practicing initiating conversation (particularly small talk) with strangers, and an awareness of when I am acting defensively or cynically.
-Key strengths: open minded, objectivity, good memory for details (no shit!), pragmatic/rational thinker, responsible/methodical and work well with figures and procedures (also no shit!).
-Possible (more like confirmed) weaknesses: I don’t respond well to uncertainty, my modesty and reticence prevents timely interventions, I require extra time to complete tasks, I can appear too unemotional or uninvolved.
-Value to the team: I have a strong sense of duty and take my work seriously, I handle complexity well, and I carefully assess situations before acting.
-To communicate with me, accept that “reflecting time” is essential to enhance my performance, ask my opinions of other systems and projects, respect my values and principles, and give me plenty of time to think through answers to your questions.
-DO NOT be too loud and hearty, implement change for change’s sake, or comment on my appearance (this made me laugh but is pretty true!).
-I also found it funny that management should help me tolerate colleagues less gifted than myself.

Basically I need to know WHY WHY WHY and THINK ABOUT THE DATA FOREVER. And then if it’s complex enough and I’m interested enough, I’ll do an awesome job solving your problem. But it will take me forever to make a decision about it.

There’s also a section on Living on Purpose, and the first sentence is “Amy may be rather dubious about the whole principle of goal-setting.” Seriously. It says I process the data and adjust as I go and that’s very true. It also notes that I may take home the worries of the day. Wow, if I could control that better, I’d get a lot more done and feel a lot less guilty. And maybe I wouldn’t feel chained to my pager.

At the end of the whole thing it turns out that while I’m only expressing 3% yellow (my opposite color, basically the inspiring sunshiney people-people), and I’m expressing 96% blue, I’m not even in the most severe blue part of the charts and I’m quite well balanced with 69% green expression (the ’supporters’) and even 37% expressed red (the ‘directors,’ like many people in supervision). So while red people scare me, this helps me deal with my boss better and I have some sense of how she thinks, and while yellow people make me bonkers, there aren’t any in my department so I guess I don’t need to worry about it right now!

Ok, thanks for letting me analyze that data. Since it’s processed and will be remembered forever I can move on to the next thing.

Today on the phone.
David: I bought you a present!
Me: Ok…
D: I paid too much for it, which you’ll hate, but it’s really awesome and you’ll like it.

A few hours later…
D: Your present arrives in two days!
Me: Am I going to think it’s useful?
D: Yes!
Me: You said I’d be mad that you paid too much. That means it’s probably $100-$150 and you should have paid $75 or less.
D: Wow, you’re good.

Twenty questions ensues, not because I like to spoil surprises but because sometimes his surprises aren’t exactly what everyone wanted and I feel terrible about wasting money. Usually it’s something he wants and thinks you should have and he finds a way to tie it into something you did say you wanted. For example, after I bought him a big TV he bought me an HD TiVo that is 98% filled with his programs now, and then he bought me a huge hard drive to upgrade that TiVo to store more stuff, but it was commandeered for another project altogether. I also figured out tonight that our cable/TiVo bill is about 20% of the monthly mortgage so my financial heart was breaking before we discussed the surprise.

The things the present is not: sod, windows, rain barrel, sump pump, refrigerator or freezer (there’s another story there), compost bin, kitchen cabinet doors, basement bathroom sink, key fobs to set house alarm remotely, dog poop scoop service. I discovered it was utilitarian and for outdoors. I figured out it was a hose reel.

D: A bronze hose reel with brass connectors!
Me: Where does it go?
D: On the side of the house, so you can take the hose to water flowers in the front or back yard.
Me: Isn’t someone going to steal it? (Someone stole our aluminum downspouts off the garage.) You’re going to use it to water tomatoes in the back yard too?

Here’s what we had talked about last week: the tomatoes get planted next to a spigot in the backyard and I expressed a wish to not leave that hose lying in the yard where it kills the grass and makes it hard to mow, not to mention the dog poop usually in the area getting on the hose. I said I was going to bring my giant hose hook thing from my old house to this spot. Also note there is a key-locked gate between the backyard w/tomatoes and the side of the house where the fancy new hose reel goes.

D: No, I’ll just use the hose that’s back there.
Me: Could this hose reel go back there instead?
D: No, it’s a parallel feed, and we would need to get the perpendicular model for the backyard hose.

After as careful a letdown as I could manage–I mean he was excited to buy me a hose reel, and everyone knows I LOVE utilitarian gifts when they are the right gifts–I explained I’ve never used a hose at the side of the house. I fill the watering can directly from the spigot. And once I get a rain barrel, which I tried to buy this week, I will fill the watering can from that.

Me: But I really want a good watering can!

This is true. I spent half of last summer searching for a new watering can. My old sturdy plastic one is cracked and leaks through the duct tape holding it together. I never found a can I liked and most online cans were too expensive, so I didn’t buy one. I resorted to using five-gallon buckets to water flowers last fall.

Result: David tried to change the order to the perpendicular hose reel so he could enjoy the acquisition by the tomatoes. We tried to find me a watering can online, which he was going to buy for me instead, but I ended up buying it and he says he’ll get dinner or something. The watering can was $24.95 (pretty good considering many pretty ones were $75 but this one was almost perfect from a functional standpoint), but the stupid company charges $9.90 for “Handling and home delivery” which is B.S. 40% of the order for shipping!?! I almost didn’t buy it (and this might be why I didn’t buy it last year), but I found an online code for $6 off with a $25 order. Of course my order was five cents short to qualify. So I bought a 10 pack of biodegradable leaf bags on sale, and in the end the shipping was the same and I spent more than if I’d just bought the stupid can. But I have been looking for a more environmentally friendly way to store recyclables like odd plastics that have to go to a special facility and this seemed like a solution.

See how that worked? He still spent over $100 on a hose reel and I spent almost forty bucks on a watering can and a filler item. And I still don’t have a rain barrel, but I do have a homeless hose hook.

Now for the old freezer he brought home from his mom’s tonight that he wants to put in the basement, where we have no space and it will make the electric bill go up… This in response to my already agreeing to purchase a new Energy Star fridge but he has to remodel the pantry area first so it will fit. The new fridge is supposed to solve the small-freezer problem we currently have. If that old freezer goes in the basement, I fear it will never leave.

Yesterday I stopped my car at a four-way stop and it died. And it wouldn’t restart. Eventually a guy in a pickup failed at jumping it, so he and some other dudes pushed it into a McDonald’s parking lot where I salivated over McNugget smells and waited for my knight in a big red truck to save me.

Except while he was able to successfully get my car started, soon he was doing this to his own steed.

While I waited I read this helpful note in his door jamb. You know, in case we were going to put any patients in the bed on the way home.

So that evening was shot, but at least vehicle #3 worked and we used it to get a new battery for my first car and a pizza. And then fought over who got to drive it to work today.

This morning Harry ate his stick while sitting on my Coroplast baseboard protector. Now I know how all the toys and hay and twigs are getting back there.

Linda is my good friend Dawn’s mom. She’s a retired nurse and has been battling breast cancer the last few months. The short story here is I’m joining Team Linda at the Indy Komen Race for the Cure on April 18. You can help us meet our fundraising goal by donating to my fundraising (or to Linda or anyone else on the team!) here

Joining the team as a runner, walker, or sleep-inner ends tomorrow (March 20), but you can still donate to the team fundraising until April 4! Team Linda did achieve more than 20 members so now we need to reach our goal of $2000–we’re more than halfway there!

Here’s what Dawn recently sent us about her mom and the event and what it does for people right here in our community.

Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2008 shortly after moving Anne back to school. Mom’s diagnostic testing revealed a unifocal lesion which had spread into her axilary lymph node. Mom made the decision for the best possible outcome: chemotherapy first, followed by surgery, followed by radiation therapy.

Chemotherapy (aka chemical warfare) started in late September, a biweekly regimen, ending on January 2, 2009. The same diagnostic testing performed after treatment revealed the chemotherapy was successful, neither the tumor nor lymph node produced a signal. Surgery for tumor removal and lymph node resection was scheduled for Friday, January 30, 2009. Unfortunately Mom’s margains were not clean and she had to have a second surgery on February 13, 2009 where her margains were clean! Mom and Dad returned to Arizona on February 21, 2009 where she will begin radiation treatments daily for 4-6 weeks the end of this week! Fueled by her strong faith, Mom’s indomitable spirit has been truly an inspiration.

Rob and I formed a “Race for the Cure” Team in Mom’s honor for her Christmas present. The team will raise money to fund local breast cancer education and outreach programs for underserved women in Central Indiana, where Mom’s diagnosis and treatment occurred. We need 20 participants to be an official team.

To join “Team Linda,” go to the Team page on the Komen website:

http://race.komenindy.org/site/TR/Race/General?pg=team&fr_id=1060&team_id=26570

*To register to walk (1K) or run (5K), Click Join Team, super achievers can even pay extra to be timed

*To make a donation, Click Support Team Linda over the thermometer-looking graphic that tracks fundraising progress

*To sponsor a participant on Team Linda, Click on a team participant (or Mom herself!)

When you register, you will have your own race page where friends and family can sponsor you. Please feel forward to forward this post to others you think may be interested in participating.

I attended a Team Captain meeting on January 10th and was astonished to discover since the Komen Foundation was formed in 1994, the five year survival rate for breast cancer has increased from 74% to 99%. This is primarily driven by education and breast cancer screening, resulting in early detection. Underserved women, however, have a much poorer outcome than their counterparts with health insurance. The Komen Foundation provides underserved women access to important breast health services to eventually reverse this trend. I found out at the Team Captain meeting that Central Indiana has more requests for grants than they have available funds, which is very tragic.

One question I was asked today, where do the funds go:

http://www.komenindy.org/new.asp?p=27

“Of the net proceeds from the Race, 75% will stay in Central Indiana to fund screenings and follow-up care for underserved women. The proceeds will also help provide education about breast health and early detection as well as education and outreach programs specifically about breast cancer. For a complete list of those organizations currently receiving Komen grant funds, visit the Grants page. The remaining 25% helps fund the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research Program. Organizations interested in providing or currently providing breast health services in Indiana are encouraged to call 317.638.CURE for grant application information.”

Rob and I look forward to seeing everyone we can on April 18th for the Race!

Dawn

Thanks for your support!
My race page

1. Had to argue with someone that a pH meter couldn’t go to 20.

2. Another department, we’ll say A, took some of our workload (hooray, and we’ll be B) a few months ago by doing one of those grandiose automation projects that is supposed to give faster results but costs a lot to implement, and then they had unintended consequences that were way worse than waiting a couple hours for results from our Dept B, so we have to take the work back (boo). The process to get the work back, though, is a moderate red tape extravaganza, and we asked Dept A to put a few sentences in their document so we wouldn’t have to repeat all the red tape in our own document to support this change. Oh and we have about four days to make all this happen. (Nothing happens in four days around here.)

Everyone on board, things are cool yesterday, moving along… then today someone in Dept A freaks out about what was previously cool just 24 hours ago. Honestly, I still don’t understand what the problem was. I try to calm the parties and thought we came to an agreement after I suggested a simple but brilliant solution (wordsmithing is like lube). Then I get a page that says “Person in your dept B says they’ll just do their own document after all so we’re removing part of your content from ours.” I call back and say “well, if Person B is ok with it, I guess I’ll go along with that…” Then person A calls THAT person B and tell them _I_ said to do this document change ourselves! Then they go tell everyone else that this person B and I agreed this was the path forward! Dang, how third grade can you get? In the end it’s just more red tape and B will be delayed in taking A’s work back, so way to save some time and money. We were played.

Note that the person who runs Dept A seems to hold a grudge against me (and my Dept B) and caused all SORTS of trouble by going behind our backs to our bosses right after agreeing to our faces about a conflict that he created and was not any of his business just about two weeks ago.

3. Realtor emails, wants to do an open house THIS SUNDAY but asks me about it today. As it is I’m barely getting any sleep due to giant projects at work and I just didn’t want to go reclean another house right now.

4. I was yelled at in an email (copied to four other people, of course) for not approving a procedure that isn’t even out for my approval. I rejected it two weeks ago and it got stuck in the computer system at some point after that.

5. Big software changes are scheduled for this weekend for a system in which I’m an expert. Coordinated with these changes are user access changes, but some of them went active prematurely and now my peers lost their ability to do their work and I have to go do it. I came to terms with this new development that should only last a few days but could get hairy occasionally.

I come to my desk to find an email titled, “Software HELP!!!!!!” and then IM says
Person Q [3:11 PM]:
You there?
Person Q [3:15 PM]:
Did you get my email?
Amy [3:29 PM]:
just got back, been runnign around
Amy [3:29 PM]:
I will do them now
Person Q [3:29 PM]:
Thanks – no real rush
Amy [3:29 PM]:
except for all the !!!! after your HELP message lol
Person Q [3:32 PM]:
I panicked at first – I ve cooled since
Person Q [3:33 PM]:
Thanks again

6. Why is it that people still schedule me into meetings on days I have blocked in my calendar for all-day forums?

I also managed to squeeze in two department meetings, an oh-shit-this-is-due-at-noon meeting, an optional meeting to give myself a reality check on the software changes, and about eight trips to the lab, not to mention the preemptive emails pleading with folks to help us finish a project and I signed five protocols. I admit that I skipped the 8 a.m. conference call; something had to give. Now back to my other 13 documents awaiting the red pen. How did it get to be after five already and I haven’t gotten any real work done?

We have a new president and a lot of PBJ!

Yesterday I left the house to meet Nicole at the gym. As I was going down our steps, I detected a large creature in the yard. By the time I realized it was the neighbor’s escaped Rottweiler, I was in his sights and I went straight to my car, avoiding eye contact. After I got in, he went up our front steps and lifted his leg on the inside of our porch wall! I took this to mean: Your porch is mine, beeotch.

Then he patrolled the street by standing in the middle of it, trotting through other neighbors’ yards, and generally looking like he owned the place. Here he’s heading past my car after a jaunt down the street. We don’t even know his name but I’d like to know how much danger I’m in since he seems to get out a lot!

“NOW” available at Meijer!

Our site at work is sponsoring a peanut butter and jelly collection for Gleaners food bank as part of the MLK Day of Service. After a few days collecting last week we already had 450 pounds of it, but mostly I found the easeled signs at the doors funny:

I joined Sam’s Club (they are offering $25 gift cards with new memberships for a few days) and found this great sign at the customer service desk. Of course the way they positioned it I really had no idea where the line formed, but, well, they had a sign with fun errors.

While looking for the peanut butter and jelly, I found Red Gold tomato products. David is a canned tomato snob and will only agree to Red Gold purchases (since they are local I can support this with a little less eye-rolling). Still, I thought 6.5 lb cans were a little much for a two-person recipe.

What’s amazing is that these 102-oz cans were only about $2.30, and a 14.5-oz can at a regular grocery is well over a dollar! It was tempting. I found an eight pack of the small cans for less than six bucks and was pretty happy with the price, but unfortunately that meant additional packaging.

I also found a composter at Sam’s (Dawn and I are in discussions about getting this started, seeing as how we have a lot of bunny turds at our disposal). I didn’t buy this one, but I appreciated the Sense of Humus.