Eleven years ago today, I had been a married woman for one day.
Ten years ago today, we were getting ready to attend the Las Vegas wedding of our dear friends.
Nine years ago today, we were thinking about moving out of the apartment complex in the Spring.
Eight years ago today, we went to Octoberfest to celebrate our anniversary.
Seven years ago today, we still couldn't believe that America had been attacked by a foreign enemy.
Six years ago today, we had come home from Shreveport instead of spending the night - it was NOT Las Vegas.
Five years ago today, we were recovering from a big party at our friends' house - they had a cake for us, which was a big surprise.
Four years ago today, we were adjusting to life with a beautiful new baby.
Three years ago today, everything we touched turned to gold.
Two years ago today, all the job transfers were finished and we were together under one roof again.
One year ago today, we were having a fabulous vacation to celebrate ten years.
Today, I am still so grateful that he picked me.
I love you, Dave.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Happy Birthday, Baby
An open letter to the (as of today) Four Year Old:
In the event that you ever look back and read Mommy's blog - today was your 4th birthday! Every year I remember exactly what I was doing throughout the day you were born, including the time you made your first appearance - 3:53 p.m. CDT. This year, we had your birthday party at the gymnastics place, and so many people came to celebrate. It was a great party - your friends and family from near and far came to see you for your party, and all weekend long. So many people talked about your excellent manners, and how sweet you are. I'm a little sad because you just fell asleep, and now your birthday celebration is over...we had a long weekend, and birthday-ed all the way through. I can't believe that you're already 4 years old - it seems like such a short time ago that you were a little baby. You don't have a baby book yet - all the memories of your firsts are stored up in our heads, and we go back and visit them more often than you think. When you come up with some insightful comment, we remark to each other about how lucky we are to have such a sweet, sensitive, and intelligent son...and think back to how we felt the first time you looked at us and said our names. You're a gift to us...and like a wise man once said, we'll never be able to give you enough to repay all the joy that you've given your parents. When you are older, and things lose their wonder a little bit, I hope that you'll look back on times like your 4th Birthday Weekend, and remember a little bit of the magic that comes with surprises, and playing with new toys, and jumping on a trampoline. We love you more than you will ever know, and are thankful every day that God saw fit to bless us with you.
Your parents,
Mommy and Daddy
In the event that you ever look back and read Mommy's blog - today was your 4th birthday! Every year I remember exactly what I was doing throughout the day you were born, including the time you made your first appearance - 3:53 p.m. CDT. This year, we had your birthday party at the gymnastics place, and so many people came to celebrate. It was a great party - your friends and family from near and far came to see you for your party, and all weekend long. So many people talked about your excellent manners, and how sweet you are. I'm a little sad because you just fell asleep, and now your birthday celebration is over...we had a long weekend, and birthday-ed all the way through. I can't believe that you're already 4 years old - it seems like such a short time ago that you were a little baby. You don't have a baby book yet - all the memories of your firsts are stored up in our heads, and we go back and visit them more often than you think. When you come up with some insightful comment, we remark to each other about how lucky we are to have such a sweet, sensitive, and intelligent son...and think back to how we felt the first time you looked at us and said our names. You're a gift to us...and like a wise man once said, we'll never be able to give you enough to repay all the joy that you've given your parents. When you are older, and things lose their wonder a little bit, I hope that you'll look back on times like your 4th Birthday Weekend, and remember a little bit of the magic that comes with surprises, and playing with new toys, and jumping on a trampoline. We love you more than you will ever know, and are thankful every day that God saw fit to bless us with you.
Your parents,
Mommy and Daddy
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
I Always Feel Like...Somebody's Watching Me...
The world of recruiting is changing drastically - instead of using a passive method of posting a job and waiting for candidates to arrive, the focus has shifted to active direct sourcing. In order to find quality candidates, the use of internet mining skills has become commonplace.
Social networking sites are one of the gold mines for finding candidates. Profiles, memberships in professional organizations, and resumes abound in these sites. Users on many of the sites focus on their career accomplishments and current industry contacts.
Other social networking sites are more of an online meeting place for people to share personal information. While many of the "pages" are tame, others contain details of a nature that the average job seeker would not want to share with a potential employer. One site in particular was developed for college students; only people with an e-mail address ending in .edu could join. That changed, and now the site is open to anyone. Creating a membership is simple, and allows for searching profiles.
Savvy job candidates, passive and active, should keep this in mind. Think of it this way - if you check out a blind date's page before committing to spending one evening together, it stands to reason that an employer would want to look at the same information before basically marrying you. Recruiters also check out this info to make sure that they aren't presenting a candidate who could turn out to be a potential embarrassment. Sorry, but there it is. I've been told by a candidate "it's none of their business!" to which my response was "you put it on the INTERNET, pal - with your name, city, and a photograph so there couldn't be any mistakes...exactly how private did you think it would be?"
And that's really the key...we all leave our fingerprints on the internet. If they're too sticky, it's just good housekeeping to wipe them up and do some general cleaning.
Social networking sites are one of the gold mines for finding candidates. Profiles, memberships in professional organizations, and resumes abound in these sites. Users on many of the sites focus on their career accomplishments and current industry contacts.
Other social networking sites are more of an online meeting place for people to share personal information. While many of the "pages" are tame, others contain details of a nature that the average job seeker would not want to share with a potential employer. One site in particular was developed for college students; only people with an e-mail address ending in .edu could join. That changed, and now the site is open to anyone. Creating a membership is simple, and allows for searching profiles.
Savvy job candidates, passive and active, should keep this in mind. Think of it this way - if you check out a blind date's page before committing to spending one evening together, it stands to reason that an employer would want to look at the same information before basically marrying you. Recruiters also check out this info to make sure that they aren't presenting a candidate who could turn out to be a potential embarrassment. Sorry, but there it is. I've been told by a candidate "it's none of their business!" to which my response was "you put it on the INTERNET, pal - with your name, city, and a photograph so there couldn't be any mistakes...exactly how private did you think it would be?"
And that's really the key...we all leave our fingerprints on the internet. If they're too sticky, it's just good housekeeping to wipe them up and do some general cleaning.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
I'm sore, and not in a World War II movie dialogue kind of way...
Recently (two days ago) I grabbed myself by the collar, and made me start working out again. As some of you may know, I lost about 50 pounds last year. It was a life and wardrobe altering event, and now my task is to maintain the less of me to love.
I also had a flash in the shower that I really want to outlive certain people I don't like, as it would greatly perturb me to see them coming to my funeral to gloat. But I digress.
So, here goes me, back on my elliptical glider. If you aren't familiar with the wonder that is an elliptical glider, it's a delightful machine that uses the same muscles as running, without the jarring pain to one's joints. I do love to exercise, the way I feel after is bliss...and I'm trying to not analyze that too much as it would only make sense that the end of pain is by nature blissful. To help me in my endeavor, Dave made a playlist of music to keep me going during my self torture. The first of my dear readers who can state the historical significance of the playlist title will be featured in a future blog post. The playlist title is "Pump YOU up". Start guessing!
Three Year Old finds my exercise to be quite entertaining. Should we happen into the office, where the elliptical glider lives, he will say "Exercise, Mommy". Explaining to him that I've already tackled that part of my day doesn't alleviate his wish to see more of what I'm sure looks like Gerbil Mommy.
In other news, I'm not sure if I previously mentioned that I removed my acrylic nails around Easter. It's been a frustrating run, but my natural nails are almost grown out, which makes me very happy. When I took off my acrylic nails, I also started doing my own pedicures, for a total monthly savings of about $100! I wish that I could say these funds have gone toward savings, but in actuality they have been used for transportation and food costs. And I'll now channel Forrest: that's all I have to say about that.
Last item of the day - if you haven't seen "Stranger than Fiction", I recommend that you watch it within the next 24 hours. The writing sounds like the running dialogue in my head which I loved, it's very well acted, and keep an eye out for the interviewer on the TV show - it's none other than Kristin Chenoweth (Broken Arrow, OK native). Seriously one of the BEST movies I've seen in a long time.
Whoops, sorry, I lied. One more thing - Season 3? Outstanding. And thus begins the jonesing for Season 4...
I also had a flash in the shower that I really want to outlive certain people I don't like, as it would greatly perturb me to see them coming to my funeral to gloat. But I digress.
So, here goes me, back on my elliptical glider. If you aren't familiar with the wonder that is an elliptical glider, it's a delightful machine that uses the same muscles as running, without the jarring pain to one's joints. I do love to exercise, the way I feel after is bliss...and I'm trying to not analyze that too much as it would only make sense that the end of pain is by nature blissful. To help me in my endeavor, Dave made a playlist of music to keep me going during my self torture. The first of my dear readers who can state the historical significance of the playlist title will be featured in a future blog post. The playlist title is "Pump YOU up". Start guessing!
Three Year Old finds my exercise to be quite entertaining. Should we happen into the office, where the elliptical glider lives, he will say "Exercise, Mommy". Explaining to him that I've already tackled that part of my day doesn't alleviate his wish to see more of what I'm sure looks like Gerbil Mommy.
In other news, I'm not sure if I previously mentioned that I removed my acrylic nails around Easter. It's been a frustrating run, but my natural nails are almost grown out, which makes me very happy. When I took off my acrylic nails, I also started doing my own pedicures, for a total monthly savings of about $100! I wish that I could say these funds have gone toward savings, but in actuality they have been used for transportation and food costs. And I'll now channel Forrest: that's all I have to say about that.
Last item of the day - if you haven't seen "Stranger than Fiction", I recommend that you watch it within the next 24 hours. The writing sounds like the running dialogue in my head which I loved, it's very well acted, and keep an eye out for the interviewer on the TV show - it's none other than Kristin Chenoweth (Broken Arrow, OK native). Seriously one of the BEST movies I've seen in a long time.
Whoops, sorry, I lied. One more thing - Season 3? Outstanding. And thus begins the jonesing for Season 4...
Saturday, May 31, 2008
As Promised...
Since it's obvious that people who *desperately* need to improve their e-mail etiquette have no intention whatsoever of reading the scores of articles readily available both online and in print regarding the topic, I shall proceed with my vent as follows, with names not included to protect the identity of the perps:
Item 1: Hysterical Use of the Urgent Marker
Have the aliens landed? Am I about to get fired? Will we lose our client if I don't respond to your e-mail *right*damn*now*? Are human lives hanging in the balance? Does this issue matter in the least to anyone in the universe except you? If the answer to these questions is "no", then lay off the exclamation point, for the love of God. Yes, I understand that the problem is important and urgent to you. Please understand that currently, I am dealing with several other important and urgent items, and the fact that you want to share your frustration with your inability to reach another party is NOT URGENT. Look, the longest you've ever had to wait to hear back from me, even if it's "hold the fort, the cavalry is coming" is roughly 15 minutes, and that was when I was eating lunch. Please, calm down. I'm very suggestible and you are making me twitchy.
Item 2: Answering One Part of a Two-Part Question
After I took the time to analyze the situation, determine the proper course of action, and request two stinking details, it would be really super sweet of you to actually read the whole three sentences of my e-mail. You see, I've asked for information and now I have to ask again, and wait for you to respond. This is irritating to me, as I loathe repeating the same task. Repeating the same information is no problem at all, but this is just rude.
Item 3: Total Disregard of Time Zones
Here's a news flash: in the United States ALONE, there are actually four separate time zones! They are divided based on geography, and as such, those who reside in other parts of the United States may be operating on a different time zone. As an interesting compare and contrast, when you send me an URGENT e-mail at 7 a.m. EST, it is 6 a.m. in my world, and 4 a.m. for the person you carbon copied. Here's an idea: pick up that item with buttons on it, push in the numbers of my cell phone, and hold it to your ear. It's called a phone, and back before humans started losing their ability to speak, it was how we communicated actually urgent problems. This skill may come in handy for you, as I don't think there is yet an e-mail address for 911. We can't hear your exclamation point, no matter how loudly you type.
I think that about covers it for this episode - there's a baked potato with my name on it and I'm sure that my fair readers will think I'm simmering with bile. Thank you for allowing me to vent, and please remember that a baked potato for me is ALWAYS worthy of an exclamation point.
Item 1: Hysterical Use of the Urgent Marker
Have the aliens landed? Am I about to get fired? Will we lose our client if I don't respond to your e-mail *right*damn*now*? Are human lives hanging in the balance? Does this issue matter in the least to anyone in the universe except you? If the answer to these questions is "no", then lay off the exclamation point, for the love of God. Yes, I understand that the problem is important and urgent to you. Please understand that currently, I am dealing with several other important and urgent items, and the fact that you want to share your frustration with your inability to reach another party is NOT URGENT. Look, the longest you've ever had to wait to hear back from me, even if it's "hold the fort, the cavalry is coming" is roughly 15 minutes, and that was when I was eating lunch. Please, calm down. I'm very suggestible and you are making me twitchy.
Item 2: Answering One Part of a Two-Part Question
After I took the time to analyze the situation, determine the proper course of action, and request two stinking details, it would be really super sweet of you to actually read the whole three sentences of my e-mail. You see, I've asked for information and now I have to ask again, and wait for you to respond. This is irritating to me, as I loathe repeating the same task. Repeating the same information is no problem at all, but this is just rude.
Item 3: Total Disregard of Time Zones
Here's a news flash: in the United States ALONE, there are actually four separate time zones! They are divided based on geography, and as such, those who reside in other parts of the United States may be operating on a different time zone. As an interesting compare and contrast, when you send me an URGENT e-mail at 7 a.m. EST, it is 6 a.m. in my world, and 4 a.m. for the person you carbon copied. Here's an idea: pick up that item with buttons on it, push in the numbers of my cell phone, and hold it to your ear. It's called a phone, and back before humans started losing their ability to speak, it was how we communicated actually urgent problems. This skill may come in handy for you, as I don't think there is yet an e-mail address for 911. We can't hear your exclamation point, no matter how loudly you type.
I think that about covers it for this episode - there's a baked potato with my name on it and I'm sure that my fair readers will think I'm simmering with bile. Thank you for allowing me to vent, and please remember that a baked potato for me is ALWAYS worthy of an exclamation point.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The Shape of Things to Come
Things I Have Been Doing Lately Instead of Posting on my Blog:
- Keeping a secret (see #2)
- Learning my new job (yay!!!!)
- Taking a weekend trip to Dallas
- Laundry
- Bringing home a kitten
- Watching Season 3 of BSG (thank you, Brian!)
- Cleaning up the kitchen
- Suffering from seasonal allergies
- Trying to win the lottery
- Most important - stepping away from the computer and spending time with Dave and Three Year Old :-)
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