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February 25, 2004
Office Space
After spending 12 hours in a cubicle, I got back to the hotel and turned on TV and found that Office Space was showing. Today, I feel like becoming Peter, if you know what I mean.
I do have a question, though - what the hell does TPS stand for? Toilet Paper Standard? Is that what those reports were about?
Or Time Productivity stats? Or The Peter Sins? Or Terrible People Stink?!
I'm sure there is meaning to the evil TPS Reports, I just don't know what the meaning is!
Posted by Beth at 8:06 PM | Comments (8)
February 24, 2004
Sigh
This is a busy, busy week, and I'm trying to do about 10 things at once here. Doesn't leave much time for blogging, much less nekkid blogging. I don' t think I want to sit nekkid in a hotel room, anyway - especially after last week's experience.
Ick.
I hope I can half-assed catch up tomorrow. Then maybe I'll have time to think and write and stuff like that.
Posted by Beth at 6:49 PM | Comments (3)
February 22, 2004
By the way ...
John Kerry is a Liberal Asshat
Posted by Beth at 1:47 PM | Comments (3)
A Small Businessman meets the President
and blogs about that meeting on his weblog: My Warholian 15, no, make that 45 minutes of fame.
I loved reading his opinion of President Bush. From what Rex says, the President is every bit as charming and engaging as the press told us President Clinton was.
Posted by Beth at 8:56 AM | Comments (1)
February 21, 2004
Procrastination
I guess it serves me right. I have been planning on flying John down to South Carolina next weekend with one of my free tickets from Delta. I called them today to make the reservation.
Seems I should have called last weekend - Delta makes you call 14 days in advance. I have been spoiled by Southwest, who lets me use one of those free flights anytime I want to!
So, I had to go look up good rates, and found the best at Expedia.com.
And it will cost more to fly from KC to Columbia S.C. than it cost me to fly to England.
Sigh.
Posted by Beth at 3:01 PM | Comments (4)
February 19, 2004
We The People
We the People is a new group blog by some of my very favorite bloggers. There are already some excellent, thoughtful posts there. I highly recommend it.
In the interest of full disclosure, I will be writing there also - well, at least when I have the time (weekends). It will be a good place for my occassional political rants. So, go, read, comment and enjoy.
Posted by Beth at 6:01 AM | Comments (2)
February 17, 2004
Update on Today's Travel Tip
Just got back to the hotel after a long day at work and 2 Margaritas at the neighborhood Chili's.
The chair I am sitting on has definitely been deep cleaned. The comforter has been replaced - there are still a couple of suspicious spots on the chair against the wall, but other than that, it is all much better.
Pam says she carries a sleeping bag with her when she travels, and puts it on top of the sheets.
I don't have enough room to carry a sleeping bag with me along with my suitcase and laptop.
But ... I did find this and I'm very tempted to order it and pay extra for overnight delivery!
Posted by Beth at 7:47 PM | Comments (4)
An advertisement
I worked with Becky on some support issues I was having setting up some software last week. We got to talking, and she is really a nice person and has this small business she runs on the side. I like her stuff, so I'm putting in a plug for her. There is a neat selection of Native American and Southwest art here:
http://www.silvermoontraders.com/
Posted by Beth at 11:19 AM
A Travel Tip from Beth
Avoid traveling the week after Valentine's Day. Chances are your room will require 'deep cleaning'.
It was somewhat embarrassing to tell the desk clerk of my complaint. I told her that I had to cover all the chairs with towels before I dared sit on them.
She said, "oh, darn, we must have missed your room after Valentine's Day."
It is being deep cleaned even as I write.
Posted by Beth at 7:12 AM | Comments (13)
I learned something new this morning
When traveling, check to be sure the clock in your hotel room is set correctly.
Earlier this morning, I woke up just enough to glance at the clock, and it was 6:45! My wake up call didn't happen, or so I thought. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, jumped out of bed and started getting ready for work.
Then the phone rang. It was my 5:30 am wake up call. The clock was well over an hour off.
Not only did this cause an unreasonable jump in blood pressure, but I lost sleep because of this!
Posted by Beth at 4:52 AM | Comments (1)
February 15, 2004
On being Catholic in the Bible Belt
I was baptized, Confirmed, First Communioned, Confessed and Married in the Catholic Church. I was also annulled in the Catholic Church. I married John outside of the Church because he is not Catholic and was previously married and would have to go through the annullment process for us to be married in the Church. A silly and ridiculous expense and pain in the ass, in my opinion.
I may not go to Mass very often, but I am still a Catholic, through and through. Nothing is going to change my feelings on that. I may think the Pope does silly stuff - priests should be allowed to be married, for example - but I'm still Catholic. I am pro-life, for example. I believe that life is the most precious gift that God gave us, and we should not take it away from innocents. I also believe the Death Penalty is wrong - because we may take the life of an innocent and because it is unfairly used - not because some evil people should be saved from death.
I grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri - in what you could fairly call a Catholic Ghetto (even though we were all middle class or upper middle class).
I had Catholic friends and Jewish friends. I did not meet a person of the Protestant faith until I was 17 - and that was in Dallas, Texas. I had a summer job at Six Flags Over Mid-America (now renamed to Six Flags over St. Louis), and a couple of busloads of us visited Six Flags Over Texas, in Dallas. We stayed with families of kids who worked there. Unfortunately, I drew a family where the dad was a Baptist Minister. He was immediately suspicious of me because my last name was Healy - obviously Irish. He asked me what my dad did for a living. When I told him that Daddy was a Vice President of Falstaff Beer, this minister kicked me out of his house - I had to go and find somewhere else to stay.
When I first came to Kansas City, Missouri for college - way back in 1971 - I came across some rather fundamentalist folk who assured me that I was going to hell and that at Mass, we ate the body of babies born of nuns who had sex with priests.
Yes, that is what a Bible Baptist told me her minister revealed to his flock.
Catholics worship Satan, the minister told them. The Pope is the Anti-Christ. Nuns are whores.
Well, let me tell you, I was rather surprised at these revelations - shocked, I was.
One would think that things would have changed in the past 30 years. One would think incorrectly.
I have met many people - many of them, sadly, military officers and their wives (the Southern Baptist tradition is strong in the military), who literally hate Catholics. I have to stay away from those people, or I will say something that might be damaging to John's career (even though he is retired, he still works with these folks).
The Catholic faith is the one target that most of the media agree on. They can freely rant and rave about the evil that is the Church.
Were they to rant about Islam, there would be a huge uproar by many non-Islamic people.
It tires me to read these objections aimed at the beliefs of my religion. Why is it okay for Muslims to proclaim Jihad against all non-believers, but it's not okay to believe tha abortion is a serious and mortal sin in nearly all cases?
Why do they get to tell us what is wrong with our religion - that we are intolerant of gays because we don't allow gay marriage - that we are unreasonable in not allowing easy divorce, etc., etc., etc?
I don't think it will improve in my lifetime - but it is important to let people know that the prejudice is there, is strong and is unrelenting.
Posted by Beth at 3:26 PM | Comments (15)
Today's new word: Retrosexual
I like this new term, retrosexual. It describes John perfectly.
A retrosexual is simply someone who doesn't know the difference between teal and aqua, and frankly couldn't give a damn.
That is very true of my beloved. Green is green is green, unless it is 'olive drab'. Teal is a duck.
. . .being completely indifferent to appearance, a retrosexual will never complain that you're putting on weight. This is one of the foundation stones of a good marriage.
I once knew a couple where the man was so tied up in knots about his wife gaining weight (all of 15 pounds) after having a baby that he made her run 2 miles a day (while he followed on his bicycle - to 'encourage' her) and then weighed her until she lost the weight. He would not have sex with her until she lost it all. What a jerk.
We are aware that we have lapsed into tired gender stereotypes. We don't care. We only wish there were a third gender to clean the kitty litter.
I do think that children can fill that household need. The only problem is that they (the children, not the cats) grow up and go away to college. John and I have tried to teach the dogs to clean the kitty litter, but they are only interested in the crunchy tootsie rolls they find, and just don't handle the scoop very well.
I learned about retrosexuals from Dean Esmay who got it from opinionated.ca who found the original article at The Globe and Mail.
Posted by Beth at 8:24 AM | Comments (2)
February 14, 2004
Even in the cold of winter
John is Blogging Nekkid. I left the house at 7:50 to go get my hair cut and colored (have to do this every 4 weeks, or my skunk stripe shows) and John was blogging nekkid. I got home at 9:45, and John was blogging nekkid.
I'm getting ready to go get my massage (John's gift to me for Valentine's Day), and John is still blogging nekkid.
Just thought everyone should know that John blogs nekkid.
Posted by Beth at 10:13 AM | Comments (4)
February 12, 2004
Thursday night in Columbia, South Carolina
In Columbia, South Carolina, all the restaurants in town have people waiting for tables every Thursday night.
No, it's not 'Maid's Night Out' as Thursdays were called in wealthy parts of suburban St. Louis, Missouri when I was growing up.
These patient people are celebrating the graduation of their son or daughter from Basic Training at Ft. Jackson. The young graduates look great in their (I'm not sure if this is the correct term, John, please correct me) dress Greens? The young men's hair is very short, and the young women discuss their weight loss (not that many were overweight before Basic).
The dads are proud. the moms proud but a little worried, and the girlfriends are frantic. Interestingly, not very many of the women have boyfriends who show up for graduation dinners.
These young Americans have not been tricked into enlisting in the Army - despite what jerks like Michael Moore may say. They have joined because they want to be soldiers. Many of them will get valuable training that can translate into good civilian jobs when their enlistments are up.
These kids mostly grew up in the South and the Midwest. They are patriotic. They know right from wrong. Very rarely do I see any from the Northeast or from the West Coast. I wonder why?
On Fridays, when I fly home, it seems like half the people on the plane are new soldiers. They are in uniform and on their way to AIT (advanced individual training). I often sit next to one of these great kids on the flight to Atlanta (or Dallas, depending on what my routing is). Every one of them has been respectful, polite and very proud that they are serving their country.
Several of them have told me that they can't wait to go to Iraq. They want to be soldiers - they want to protect the USA - they want to make the world a better place, even if they risk their lives to do so.
I am proud of all of them. My prayers go with them and their families. They are our future. May God go with them.
Posted by Beth at 6:49 PM | Comments (8)
February 11, 2004
I'm the number one result
For cute furry critters on both Google and Yahoo.
Yup, I don't have much to say this morning.
Posted by Beth at 6:11 AM
Note to people who make obscene comments
I think that allowing comments here is important. I don't spend a lot of time reading blogs without the option to comment (sorry, Glenn). I love to hear from people.
But ...
if you add a comment here that is full of the 'F' word and not much else, your comment will be deleted. An occasional f word for emphasis is okay, but when every 3rd word is a F..k or a b...h, you just are not saying anything worth keeping. So, I deleted an extremely rude comment to my rant about that Englishman and I have banned the IP from this person - who scares me a little, actually. 63.187.225.40
Posted by Beth at 4:59 AM | Comments (4)
February 10, 2004
Flying
Lately, I have observed that many travelers are really very rude. It is time for them to shape up, or face the Wrath of Beth.
This is what you need to do to really piss me off:
1. Board the plane and then stand in the middle of the aisle (at row 3) talking to your business partner, ignoring all of those behind you trying to get to their seats.
2. Board the plane, put your luggage 8 rows behind your seat, and then insist that everyone wait for you to get back to your seat before finding their own seats.
3. When attempting to stuff your extremely overpacked 'carryon luggage' into the overhead compartments, take other passengers' luggage and move it to a different compartment, because you want to have your stuff close to you.
4. Make over-loud comments about how you normally fly first class, but today you are stuck with the plebians in coach.
5. Subject the rest of us to your child's very noisy video game. Get the kid headphones, or I'll take the damned game away from him!
6. Bitch about having been forced to check your extremely oversized 'carry-on bag'.
7. Put your drink on my tray because you want to use your tray for your laptop or newspaper.
8. Express your political views very loudly during the flight, and then get annoyed when I turn to you and tell you how frigging stupid you must be to believe shit like that.
9. Decide that the time spent in flight is a good time to redo your nails -and then be shocked, when someone objects to the odor of your flamable fingernail polish remover.
10. When deplaning, wait until there is a mile between you and the last person who got off before starting to move because you were too busy talking on your cell phone to notice that you are preventing everyone else (and me!) from getting off the damn plane.
11. Shove people who don't move fast enough for you when getting off the plane.
12. Jump in front of someone reaching for their baggage on the luggage carousel to grab your own suitcase first.
If anyone else has experienced other rude behaviors, let me know - I'll make a list.
Update: Here are more suggestions and stories ~~~~
13. CuteTexasBlonde was actually burglarized by a seatmate on an overseas trip - she went to use the ladies' room, and he stole her pillow - and to do that, the asshat had to open her Delta Pack!!!
14. Kids who kick the seat in front of them pisses her off too - and I agree.
15. Sweet Helen, who has traveled probably a zillion miles really hates it when the person behind her grabs the back of her seat to pull his/her butt off of their own seat.
16. Pam's poor husband, Arthur, has experienced gas pains - but not his gas - the gas of other airline passengers. Yuch.
17. I completely agree with JDMays. People who pull their cellphone out of their pocket the second the plane touches down and madly dial their way back to anyone they know to let them know they have arrived are maddening.
18. OceanGuy has valid complaints about luggage carousel behavior - no, I mean the behavior of the people standing around the luggage carousel, and who block the rest of us from getting our own luggage.
Posted by Beth at 5:22 AM | Comments (9)
February 8, 2004
John finally got his new pc today
In case you didn't know, John's pc died about a month ago. The same co-worker who built my son's super-neato-keeno-wowser of a pc for college, built one for John. He had problems with the memory - had to return it several times because it didn't pass his 36 hour test. (yes, my friend and co-worker is quite the geek). So it took a little longer than expected. Now, thankfully, we have it.
While John's pc was broken, he used mine. Good thing I have been travelling a ton, because I think we may have had some serious disagreements if I was home, because John does not share well with others.
But he is playing with his new toy, which has some serious geek stuff on it - there is a thermometer reading on the front of the case which gives the temp of the cpu, the video card and something else (ask him).
So, I am now allowed to use my pc to blog with. So starting next weekend, I will write more. Simply because there won't be another person sitting here at my desk all the time. :) I'm too tired tonight to write anything. I leave in the morning for Columbia, South Carolina again. Hopefully, I'll get there with my luggage this time.
Posted by John at 8:11 PM | Comments (1)
February 5, 2004
I do not know how to put this on my sidebar, Madfish!
I am pretty sure that I don't use tables?
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Posted by Beth at 8:32 PM | Comments (2)
This kind of snarking is why
I just love LeeAnn! th3 ch33s3 st4nds 4alon3
And here is another reason
and another
And another
.
.
.
oh, and another!!!
Oh, and I almost forgot this.
Harumph.
Take that you little 5h1t, KuruID10T
Posted by Beth at 7:52 PM
February 4, 2004
Heh, I match John exactly!
I always thought he was way more conservative than me, but I was wrong...
Where do you fall on the liberal - conservative political spectrum? (United States)
brought to you by Quizilla
Posted by Beth at 8:14 PM | Comments (1)
You will not believe this
Remember how I got an awful rash last week, and I was afraid it was due to seafood?
Hmmm. Last night I had a nice steak. Woke up at about 1:00 am, itching all over the place. When I finally gave up all hope of sleep and took a shower, I looked at myself in a full length mirror (a scary thing to do under normal circumstances) and I have yet another bunch of rashes. I'm beginning to think it is psychosomatic or something. I'm always cured by the way I get home....
Oh well. Unless I win the lottery (and to do that, I'd have to buy tickets), I'll be working until I'm about 86.
Tomorrow I get to train 10 people ( I was told 3 people a week ago). I don't have enough classroom material, and I am not a very good trainer unless I'm teaching one-on-one, so I'm not looking forward to it.
Anyway, that's the last I will talk about work this week. I promise. I am going to go and see how all my favorite bloggers are doing. This weekend, I will link to you all and tell you how wonderful you are. I just don't have the energy today!!!!
Posted by Beth at 7:46 PM | Comments (2)
Any SC Readers/Bloggers?
Beth is currently working a project in Columbia, SC that will have her shuttling there weekly now through the middle of March. Since her company doesn't care if she comes home or I go visit, I thought I'd go out there end of this month. Do we have any readers/bloggers in the area? We'll have a car, we can travel! You guys would know the roads/travel times better than we do, any suggestions are solicited!
Posted by John at 10:25 AM
February 3, 2004
Breaking News
My suitcase was just delivered. And I'll bet that Delta has no idea I have it. Just one hour ago, I called, and they said they still had not found it.
I am very relieved, though. Hope this does not happen next week!
Posted by Beth at 8:27 PM | Comments (7)
I hate Delta Airlines
This was my day:
5:30 am - John drives me to Kansas City International Airport in snow and sleet so I won't miss my 7:10 am flight to Atlanta.
6:45 am m- best part of day - we actually board the 7:10 am flight.
10:15 am (switch time zones to Eastern). Land in Atlanta.
10:17 am - while exiting gate, I glance at the departure list. My 11:20 am flight has been cancelled.
10:17 1/2 am - gate attendant says, "don't worry, you are automatically booked on the 2:20 pm flight to Columbia, South Carolina. Just go over to Terminal B, Gate 26".
10:45 am (This is Atlanta, after all, it is a long walk from Terminal C, Gate 34 to Terminal B, Gate 26). Gate 26 has never heard of me. "We can book you on
the 3:40 pm flight to Columbia. By the way, what color is your luggage? Oh, and just go to Terminal A, Gate 15".
I decide to use the Ladies Room and grab a bite of lunch.
11:40 am - "Pant, pant" Arrive at Terminal A, Gate 15. They have indeed heard of me there. Flight appears to be on-time. I call client to let them know that I will not be there for scheduled appearance and software install as expected, but 8:30 am on Tuesday morning is all hunky dorey.
2:40 pm - Gate 15 has changed the departure time of 3:50 flight to 4:30 pm.
3:40 pm - the 3:50 flight 4:30 pm flight, will now depart at 5:48 pm. Announcement made that flight had finally left Indianapolis.
4:00 pm - I check with Gate attendant (Gate 15) to be sure it is okay for me to leave the area. I need a drink.
4:15 - go to Chili's and order a large Margarita. Also order junk food (to hell with dieting).
4:50 - Start to return to Gate 15. Glance at Departure board - the 3:50 flight 4:30 pm 5:48 pm flight has suddenly become the 5:10 pm flight.
4:54 pm - with twisted ankle, I appear again at Gate 15. No one is boarding. In fact, there is no plane to be seen. The 3:50 flight 4:30 pm 5:48 pm 5:10 pm flight is now the 5:31 pm flight.
5:17pm Plane appears. We board the plane.
6:05 pm Plane takes off. Plane proceeds to most awful turbulence experienced in years. No drinks.
6:40 pm. Arrive at Columbia, South Carolina airport.
7:00 pm. Realize luggage is nowhere to be found. Stand in line to report loss of luggage.
7:15 pm - Luggage person assures me that my luggage is on the next flight and will be delivered to my hotel in an hour or so. "By the way, what color is your luggage?"
7:45. I arrive at hotel, check in - best part of day - not being the trusting sort, I find a mall, go to Dillards and spend $150 on suitable business attire and underwear. Can't find shoes that fit!
9:00 pm. Mall closes. Return to hotel. Still no luggage.
10:00 pm. Fall asleep. Still no luggage
1:00 am Tuesday morning. Wake up, call front desk. Still no luggage.
1:10 am Call Delta baggage claim. The automatic voice response unit hangs on me. Twice.
1:19 am - get real person at Delta. "What color is your luggage?" Nope, we don't know where it is. No one will know until 9:00 am tomorrow. Where can we reach you?
Sorry, I won't be reachable because the charger for my cell phone is in my red luggage!!!
2:00 am. Attempt to go to sleep.
Posted by Beth at 12:38 AM | Comments (7)
February 1, 2004
Weekends are never long enough
I had a nice day yesterday with John - we went to a gun show, saw a Springfield and a couple of Brown Bess's that I would love to own - but they were all a bit above our budget at this point.
Last night, I spend about 30 minutes trying to massage out a cramp that John has had in his shoulder for the past week or so. He has been in considerable pain, and is on some serious muscle relaxers and such, but nothing seemed to work. John, believe or not, does not care for back rubs - but he finally asked me to try massaging his shoulder and back as a last hope before he goes into to see some doc tomorrow who is going to shoot the area full of something.
I am a strong believer in the therapeutic power of massage. When I have the wherewithal and time, I try to get a full body massage every week. I've been doing this for about 3 years now, and it makes a real difference in my energy
level and really lessens the stiffness and aches and pains that being middle aged curses me with.
It looks like my massage helped John, at least somewhat. He is busy in the basement today, cleaning his guns, etc.
Andy, wonderson, is home for the weekend, and I have spent lots of time talking to him about what's going on at college, etc.
I don't seem to have the empty next syndrome that so many people talk about. But, Andy and I internet messenge each other about once or twice a week, so I don't feel like he has completely dumped his parents.
I'm washing clothes now, and packing for my trip to Columbia, South Carolina. I'll be going there every week for the next 5 weeks. My life has become incredibly hectic in the past year. I never expected to be traveling all the time
and I'm not sure I really like it. In a way, it gives John his space, which he needs. I need some space too, but travelling doesn't seem to give it to me. I'd rather be spending some evenings with either the horses or throwing some pots or trying to finish some of the stained glass projects I have started. Instead, I spend my evenings kinda bored - might read a book, might watch tv, but mostly, I'm bored and alone. I miss John so very much when I am gone, and I really don't know how much longer I can go on like this.
On the other hand, I do love my job and what I do, and I feel like I am quite well paid. I so wish I could have a job that paid as well as this, and was as challenging, but didn't require me to travel nearly every frigging week. Need to get more laundry done - more tomorrow night.
Posted by John at 5:58 PM | Comments (2)