Christmas Wrapping

To all the people who decorate the exterior of their homes, thank you. The more lights the better as far as I am concerned. And extra credit to people who use colored lights. I think this takes a lot of courage since I remember the big, colored light bulbs that decorated my childhood tree. They used to get so hot you wondered how they didn’t ignite the tree. While white lights can be elegant and lovely, I will always have a special place in my heart for multi-colored Christmas lights. To my neighbors who have the one lone strand of white lights strewn on their bushes, close but no cigar. It looks like someone tripped while hanging lights and that’s where they stayed. Try harder next year. To my other neighbor who decorated their porch, it looks great. But do you think that decorating the railings was such a good idea?

Now I can enjoy a break from work and from school and chip away at my Netflix queue and visit the library.

Happy Holidays!

Welcome to Whoville

Well it's official. Christmas is imminent. I saw It's a Wonderful Life on Saturday night.
What a great movie. It makes me cry my eyes out every time. It's not Christmas without it. I also saw the Grinch. 30 minutes, narrated by Boris Karloff. There is no other.
And to wrap it all up, Charlie Brown's Christmas. It's really a trifecta of holiday-ness.

In spite of all the tv cues, I just do not feel Christmassy. Maybe the stress of finals and the fact that it's freakishly warm outside are not helping. I don't require a white Christmas but winter would be nice.

Maybe I should finally mail (ok, start writing) my Christmas cards.

Final frenzy

Well I am getting down to the wire. I have my last final due in a week. It's such a tough class that it is going to take me every moment to finish it. Then I will get a glorious month off! I can't wait. It's tough balancing work and school but then add into it the Christmas mix and December becomes just insane. I haven't bought a single present or mailed a single card as of this moment. While I did put a wreath on my door, that's as far as I have gotten. At this point, I just want to put my books and notes away and clean my house! Forget decorating, I'd just like to wash my kitchen floor.

Snow Envy

After two oddly unseasonable days I will admit that I have snow envy. I know that the storms in the Midwest were not fun but I am really ready for a foot of snow. It's been too long since our last one. I miss that stillness that blankets everything with a thick, white layer of fluffy snow. I want to clomp around in it, shovel it, wear my boots and brush my car off. I want to snowshoe, snowboard, cross country ski and make snowballs. I want to walk out the door in the morning and see my breath.

We may get some snow on Monday and I am crossing every finger I have! Though I finally got a wreath for my door, it has not felt like Christmas to me. I know that staring down finals has distracted my, but I was missing the spirit. So today, I stopped at my local Christmas tree farm and bought a balsam wreath. Just walking amongst all those trees it smelled like Christmas.

Someday I will have my own Christmas tree.

Thanksgiving

We all have that one dish that makes an appearance each Thanksgiving that no one knows where it came from or who started it. But there it is. Cranberry Relish with walnuts. Ambrosia. Jell-O molds. For my family it is Green Bean Casserole.

I don't even know what's really in it other than the beans and the crispy fried onions for the topping. My mother loves the stuff. She also has a love of stuffing that I can't quite understand either, but that's another story. She makes it in spite of the rest of us mocking her. She asks us to try it. Once, many moons ago, I did. It did not impress me.

We did not have Green Bean Casserole this year. Thanksgiving was good, but seemed a bit more subdued. I think the loss of my grandfather this summer has got everyone shaken up. It seems as if the whole family is unsure of their footing now.

Let's talk turkey

This fall while riding my bike I noticed that my neighbors had gotten some rather unattractive lawn ornaments. Upon closer observation I realized they were in fact four turkeys. Up close they weren't so bad. Apparently I am not the only New Englander with turkeys in the back yard. On NPR today there was a tale of turkeys from a town outside of Boston. Apparently they had a flock of turkeys with a very aggressive tom or two. The most aggressive Tom met his end on the very crowded Route 9 but not before terrorizing and attacking the residents.

So this Thanksgiving, should you find yourself face to face with an aggressive turkey (and not the kind in the plastic with Butterball stamped on it) be strong and use a broom to thwack it away! This was advice they offered. It cracked me up. Who has a broom that handily within reach? I'd be rushed by turkeys before I could get my broom. And yes, I know that it could be a 20 or 30 pound bird and they do have a talon but still, it's a bird!

Forgive me not

"Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast." - Marlene Dietrich

"One forgives to the degree that one loves." - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

If you say that you forgive someone for a past wrong, does that automatically require the forgiven to do penance and re-hash the event? Can you get forgiveness without having to pay a penance? If you are the forgiver are you then entitled to unlimited rehashing of the event in order to completely grant forgiveness? If this is a requirement then is it truly forgiveness? Does this requirement for going over and over the events of the past mean that you are truly not forgiven? Does it indicate that you have not truly come to terms with the past?

It's quite a conundrum. It feels to me like telling someone you are sorry when you don't really mean it. If you say "I have forgiven you" but then make me explain again and again what happened have you truly forgiven me?

How are you helpful?

I have had a pretty rough few weeks. Nothing major but it was disruptive, aggravating, disappointing, stressful, and thoroughly not fun. I am very in touch with my sense of empathy, as anyone who spends five minutes with me can attest. So while my friends and loved ones listened to me vent and offered their sympathy, I did keep in mind that there are others out there who have things a lot worse than me.

Why is it then, that when told of my saga one such acquaintance decided to basically tell me that it could have been worse? I mean my house didn't burn down with my dog in it like a friend of his. All I wanted was a bit of acknowledgement that my week was tough instead I got a diatribe on how much worse it could have been. Gee, thanks. I feel so much better already.

Election Ennui

Normally I love to vote but I am so glad that Tuesday is Election Day. I am so sick and tired of all the stupid, negative ads that have been playing incessantly on tv. It's aggravating. If I hear one more commercial about how all hell will break loose if the grocery stores gain the right to sell wine I think I will scream.

Since I am not a target group for politicians (single, no children yet, renter) you would think that I would not be as politically involved as I am. What spurs me on is that I truly hold strong to the belief that my predecessors fought hard for me to be able to go and vote on Election Day. The fact that women were only granted the right to vote only with the passage of the 19th amendment of the Constitution in 1920 makes me obligated to cast my ballot and I do so proudly.

I have also decided this election season that any candidate who had supporters who left their campaign fliers under my car windshield at the train station automatically does not get my vote. There is nothing worse than getting off the train in the dark, getting in your car and realizing that there is a stupid flyer under your windshield wiper. It is beyond aggravating.

Election Day also makes me think of when I was a child how my grandmother used to work the polls. I would go with my parents and see my gram chatting with all her girlfriends and giving people their ballots. I couldn’t wait to be grown up enough to vote. So this Tuesday when I wield my Sharpie marker I will remember her and proudly do my civic duty.

Liar liar pants on fire

I am on day 12 of no internet access thanks to Earthlink's continued inability/desire to fix the problem that is causing the outage. I have spent hours on the phone with them. Each time I am told that a senior level engineer will be calling me back. It hasn't happened yet.

Yesterday, I got this email from Earthlink which made me so mad I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Not once has Earthlink tried to contact me. They have my home number, cell number, address and email address. I've gotten nothing at all. So the fact that this is clearly a lie made me outraged. Not only are they not helping me in any way, fixing the problem or being customer service focused now they are just flat out lying. Why on earth would I continue with this company? That's exactly what the Verizon rep I spoke with today wanted to know.

You contacted us recently concerning your EarthLink High Speed Internet access.
We have been unable to reach you. If you are still experiencing issues with your
service please contact us toll-free at 1-866-XXX-XXXX and reference Trouble
Ticket # XXXXXX

Sincerely,

Ticketing Response Operations Network
Earthlink, Inc

Earthlink Sucks

I have been a customer of Earthlink for seven years. Up until recently I have had no problems with them. I've recommended them to everyone under the sun. I will not be doing that anymore.

I am on day 8 without my DSL connection. It mysteriously went down last week and hasn't been back. During that time, I've spent many an hour making friends in India on the tech support line. They've told me some doozies that I've compiled. I will share my favorites with you here.

"I have upgraded your case to priority. Our engineers will work on this. You will receive a call tomorrow. This will be resolved within 24 hours." This was last Thursday. Obviously none of this happened.

"Give me a minute to read through the case notes." This man apparently suffered some sort of horrible cubicle accident since he left me on hold for over an hour, and then disconnected me. I have visions of a staple gone awry or a life threatening papercut.

"You have my personal guarantee that this will be resolved in 6-12 hours. Our line technicians will contact you." I tried hard to believe this one since he seemed so earnest, but just couldn't. As it turns none of this happened either.

"Your modem appears to be broken so I am recommending you order another one. It will $49." This was all a big lie. My modem was not broken so there was no need for me to order another one. As my friend pointed out, they just wanted to shut me up and buy themselves some time. So they came up with telling me my modem was broken. I refused to pay the $49.

"I will transfer you to a supervisor. You will receive a call in 15 minutes just checking to see that the call was successfully transferred." I think we can all see where this was going. I got disconnected and it's been four days and no one has called to check.

"The problem is with the brand of modem. You should go buy your own and then call us and tell us if it works." I did not realize I had been added to the Earthlink payroll to troubleshoot modem issues. Even better, they're willing to ship me a different brand of modem, but it won't get here until next week, which will be two weeks without my DSL.

"Technicians are working on this problem." Apparently they aren't because it's been over a week and nothing has been fixed.

"If we had more customers who had this problem we would not have sent you that modem." Well that's a relief. Unfortunately for me, I am one of the handful who does have this problem. So they sent me a modem that had know issues with Verizon. Thanks so much.

"We appreciate your patience." Oh that's funny but I have no patience. I lost it last week while I was waiting by my phone for someone to call me.

As of this moment, I am done with Earthlink. I will be switching carriers on Monday.

Whalom Park – For a Whale of a Time!

This slogan has been embedded into my head since childhood. I remember nothing else about the commercials, just the slogan. Whalom Park was a great part of my childhood. We used to go every year right before school started. August would roll around and the excitement would start to build until, at last, it was time to go! You would enter the park and that mixture of grease and popcorn would hit your nose and you knew you were there. The wooden rollercoaster was my first rollercoaster. I will never forget the tchunk, tchunk, of the chain catching the cars and starting the slow climb up that first great hill. The Scrambler, The Whip, the Ferris wheel were all must rides as well.

I like to think that my love of roller coasters started there, though I suspect I am genetically predisposed. My grandfather worked on the rollercoaster back when he was a young man. He would tell me tales of walking the tracks to check the coaster, the people who would ride it and how many times in a row he had ridden it. There was nothing better that than fear/excitement/anticipation of cresting that first hill and whoosh down you would go. At the end, the last dip would take you down back to the ground and you could look over and see the lake. Then you got in line to do it all over again. Safety? Of course. There was a bar that was approximately above your lap and it was covered with foam rubber and duct tape. None of us ever fell out! It makes the constraints on Six Flag coasters look like overkill.

The picture in the paper this week of a backhoe tearing down the old wooden coaster brought me to tears. I do not post it here because, even writing this now, it brings me to tears. I think this is compounded by the fact that I lost my grandfather earlier this summer. I know that nothing ever stays the same, but still tearing the park down to make way for condos seems particularly tragic.

Everyone to the left

Being a southpaw, I often wonder why it's so hard to find left handed items. My friends will not let me massacre another bottle of wine with my difficulties trying to get the cork out! It was only recently that I got a left handed serrated knife. Let me tell you, I have never before been able to cut a slice of bread so straight until now. The left handed soup ladle has saved me from making such a complete mess of my self, the floor and the stove when dealing with soup. It's always a surprise to me that such simple items bring such joy!

The puzzle I have is why there is not more places that cater to us leftys (where's a Leftorium when you need one?). I've had great luck with a store in London, http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/acatalog/. In fact, if you search for left handed items, the stores that come up all seem to be in Europe. I wonder why this is.

Painting is silent poetry

I am truly luck to be surrounded by art. Working in a city, you tend to be exposed to all sorts. I am acquainted with a truly amazing artist who came into work today to give many of use a gift. She had made paintings for all of us. My coworker who is a bright, sunny, beautiful person got a cheery painting of a country lane in spring time. I got a gorgeous coastal scene in the fading light. The greens, browns, blues, grays and purples are just stunning and very much me. All day long I stared at the painting propped on my shelf. While it brightens my cube I think I would rather have it at home.

It was the best present I've gotten in awhile.

To see more of her amazing work here's her website.
http://www.tatianafinearts.com/

The Heartbreak of the T

I've been involved in a bad relationship for about three years now. I've been treated bad and disrespected. Left out in the cold. And yet, still I show up every morning and every night. I even pay for this treatment. A bad boyfriend? Nope, the MBTA.

I try to be a good citizen. I'm not sitting alone in my car clogging up the highway. I've taken the commuter rail and subway in other cities. Three years ago I thought how bad could the MBTA be?

I've alternately sweltered and been frozen. I've been squished like a sardine on a sadly regular basis. I've been late. Five minutes, twenty minutes, twice even three hours due to engine problems so we had to be pushed into the city. If the commuter rail isn't late, then the subway is. Communication is sketchy. I've been late due to mechanical problems, signal problems, excessive cold, excessive heat, traffic (It's a train track. There's a schedule. How can there be traffic?), lack of an available platform, medical emergencies (those I have no problem with), and for all the other times just because.

So the talk of rate hikes really puzzles me. I don't mind paying but for goodness sake could you get me to work and home on time?

Seasonally Challenged

I know that when one thinks of fashion Milan, Paris, New York are cities that come to mind. Boston isn't quite on that list. After observing people in the city today I think I can understand why.

It's flip flops. They are still everywhere. While I can understand wearing them when it's really hot out, I don't get the whole bare leg and flip flop look now. If you're wearing a jacket that's zipped up why are you still wearing flip flops? I know the quirks of New England weather might add to the confusion - 80 degrees yesterday, 60 today. But it's October. Fall. Time for boots and tights. Wool. Scarves. Not flip flops. Let it go people. Put them away until next year. Summer is over.

Women for Women

I have had the wonderful opportunity to be a part of the amazing Women for Women International organization www.womenforwomen.org . They had a great gift of being the recipient of the 2006 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the world’s largest humanitarian prize of $1.5 million. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation presents the annual award to an organization that “significantly alleviates human suffering.” “Women and children bear the major burdens of the unprecedented number of wars and civil conflicts raging worldwide and are often left to rebuild their lives without the basic necessities for survival or a viable means to earn a living and take care of their families,” said Steven M. Hilton, chairman and CEO of the Hilton Foundation. “Women for Women International has demonstrated that it can create change and stability within a society by providing women survivors with the tools and resources to rebuild their lives. The organization also gives women the training and confidence to engage in their communities’, and ultimately their nation’s economic, political and social structures,” he added.

I am so happy that this amazing organization was recognized for its work. If you can, donate or sign up to be a sponsor. It costs so little but means so much. I sponsored a woman in Rwanda. It really puts your life into perspective when you are writing about your life to someone who survived the Rwanda genocide. It makes everything else seem really insignificant.

Men

I will first start this post by saying that I love men. My best friend is a man. My travel buddy is a man.

But I had time to think in the eternal traffic on the ride home and here is my list of beyond puzzling, lame men-isms.

"I find you intimidating." This was said by a man five minutes before our third date. By intimidating he actually meant that I was taller than him. I didn't have a growth spurt between dates 1 and 2. Ok.

"So do you want to have children?" Normally that's not a bad question. On a blind date within the first 5 minutes is really wrong.

"I love that you have your own life." Said by a man who promptly starting to complain that I was too busy for him. What he meant was that my busy life was fine, until it became clear that I was not sitting around twiddling my thumbs when he was not around.

"Oh, you have cats." I knew this one from work. Pictures of said cats were on my desk. They came up in conversation. I pointedly asked him, and most everyone who is coming to my house, if he was allergic to cats. It is not my fault he didn’t pay attention. I did take pity when his face started to swell and drove him to CVS for Benadryl which is not my idea of a good date.

"I have four children." Ok. Good for you. "By three different women." Whoa. I seriously needed another drink with this one. This would be why I do not allow my Mom to set me up on blind dates.

"I'm 65." This actually was just in conversation at an art exhibit by a man I couldn't shake. Granted I can make conversation with most anyone. But seriously? He wanted to take me to dinner. In fact his last girlfriend was my age. Really? How about that. Boy, look at the time. I really should go. Anywhere but here.

"I'm married." Our grand prize winner here. We were having a pretty good date, until he suddenly remembered one very important thing. His wife. At any point in the three months that we had known each other and flirted this could have come up. But he waits until dinner. So I did the only thing I could do - excused myself to the ladies room and called his wife. Never a good idea to give out your home number when living a double life.

I can laugh at all of these and did at the time. They just make me extremely gratful for the men in my life who are the decent, kind, generous, respectful ones.

Like a Rolling Stone

In spite of my massively busy schedule, I took the time to attend the Rolling Stones concert at Gillette Stadium. Granted, one would be foolish to pass up the offer with the excellent seats I was fortunate enough to sit in. It hadn't really occurred to me to actually see the Stones but I'm glad I did. There is nothing quite like a big stadium rock show. The lights! The fireworks! The flames! The "magic carpet" stage. As my friend said, it was like the Rolling Stones meet Cirque du Soleil.

The boys put on a great show and made me realize I need to get some of their tunes on my Ipod. The downside to a big stadium show however is the inability to get out of the parking lot. A glass of wine, lobster salad and some pate made the time fly by!

What a world

While I try to keep up with the world sometimes it still amazes me at what is going on. I am puzzled at the lack of continued outrage at Turkey punishing authors who make mention of the Armenian Genocide. The latest author, Elif Shafak, who is nine months pregnant is going to be standing trial for "insulting Turkishness". So essentially they are trying a fictional character. Hmm.

I want to think that here in America this would never happen. We are a rational country built on the foundations of our forefathers.

Oh wait, "A bill radically redefining and expanding the government's ability to eavesdrop and search the houses of U.S. citizens without court approval passed a key Senate committee Wednesday, and may be voted on by the full Senate as early as next week. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71778-0.html?tw=wn_index_16"