Friday, June 27, 2008

She's gone! happy dancing

OK, so I'm being petty....so sue me! but Mimi - the bane of my existence at work, is gone. gone gone gone - and there are a lot more staff there doing a happy dance. The attorneys - oblivious, absolutely oblivious, and surprised that staff members are delighted that she is gone! She quit, wasn't fired, but I think even she realized that no one was going to fight to have her stay. Her direct supervisor may not even have said it, but he wasn't exactly thrilled with her performance lately.

On to even worse. SpouseBuzz has always been my haven for sensible blogging, very supportive and when you said something about military living there, you knew that most of the spouses on there had "been there, done that, had waaaaay too many souvenirs". A posting, done reluctantly by the author, was made about a certain calendar and a military wife/bikini model with spouse living in Katterbach and linked to by Military.com ... and kindness, common sense and any spelling or grammar learnt in grade school - went right out the window. The nastiness, prating priggishness and sheer viciousness went on and on, the last time I looked before it was closed and not available, the comments numbered over 525. Ninety percent if not more, were attacks on the model, anyone looking at it, anyone not understanding that "men looking at such porn (and this wasn't porn!) are cheating on their wives" One comment stated the calendar was "unholy"! OK, so that one made me laugh... Where was the team, the support, the caring in our community? gone, with petty name calling taking over. Now I hasten to add, the "regular" posters, the ones that come to that site daily, were there to add some requests for civility, some calm discourse... the visitors were another story altogether.

Folks, this calendar was no worse than the SI bikini addition, the latest Pamela Anderson sighting, or Victoria's Secret last catalogue. To read some of the comments, no man who loved his wife looks at anyone else... even at the beach. Oh get REAL here! If my husband of over 30 years didn't look at a beautiful woman on the beach in a bikini - I'd take his pulse! If I don't look at a good looking guy in shorts, take mine! It doesn't mean we aren't faithful and loving spouses, it means we are human. My grandmother, the little German Lady, once stopped in a mall and watched a very nice specimen of manhood walk down the walkway. When, as a shallow girl of 25 I asked her "Omi, how can you DO that" - she smiled and told me she wasn't dead yet and that beauty was to be enjoyed in many forms!

Why am I taking time and space for this subject. Because I was ashamed of my community, of the women and girls who were supposedly from the military family I am part of. As one friend said, there were some on there who weren't really milspouses, and like stirring the pot. I take a percentage out, and am still left with a nasty taste in my mouth, that has nothing to do with my morning cup of coffee. I must be getting old.

To the good side of my week - we went to the Twilight Tattoo at Ft. McNair. Great show, lots of marching and martial music, a couple of nice horses, the Old Guard Drill Team flinging Springfield rifles with bayonets about and scaring the whoo ha out of me (that 1st Sgt who stand in the middle of the circle whilst these weapons are flying.. has all my respect), punctuated with periodic cannon fire that made everyone jump 2 feet! It was a lovely evening, not too hot yet. Helicopters from the Marine One fleet were flying around too, making for an interesting back drop, and there were boats on the river next to the parade ground. General Casey was in attendance (jeez, he's a short guy!) Made for a fun evening - had a picnic before the review - now we need to hit the Marine one at the Iwo Jima memorial... gotta check them all out, and they are FREE! nice price. You can get to the locations by Metro and a short walk.

On the weather front, here in the Nation's Capitol... let me just say, I need GILLS! hot, humid and just yuck. The tourists are flocking now, and the Metro is more and more crowded. Gas prices probably have a lot to do with it! over 4 bucks. Our Prius is turning out to be a better and better purchase, and yes, we do gloat periodically.

Time to get ready for work. It's FRIDAY! yay. Plans for the weekend are fluid and depend on the weather. The office picnic at the Zoo - not so much. I know what's going to be there, the suck up associates hanging on the partners' every word, the young paralegal clique will be hanging around either playing silly games or languidly lounging - being JUST too cool for the room... and the old farts like me, no where to be seen.

Have a great weekend, be safe, be happy, and please, be kind. Peace for the mind, body and spirit, Namaste.

LAW

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Been a while...

With getting Parent's Zone up and running - Tammy, I can't even thank you enough...- and the insanity of work, salted with the occasional migraine.. I've been lax in posting..

I'm growing gills, I think - I need them to breathe around here. Last weekend's heat wave knocked me for a loop! I used to be able to handle heat and humidity, but age and migraine have turned me into a wimp. These headaches rule my life now, and my husband's time off too.

Yesterday, you may have read that 30 blocks of downtown DC were dark for a long time. I was in our office... in the dark... no AC (remember this, it's important later) and NO COFFEE. the partners waited until about 9:30 (I got there at 7:45) to tell us to just go home. After all... we were looking at 4 hours to get the servers up, even if the power went on... which it did right after most people left. I elected to take work home, but didn't get any done. Thanks to the whole no AC/stuffiness and no coffee.. the migraine hit about 2. I had gone to the shoe stores ... I'll rant about that later... and then to get new glasses, which I desperately need. and then I could feel it starting, so home we went and the rest of the day was a total loss.

Shoe store - tell me WHY they have to have the music up to a decibel level designed to make you want to break things??? and it's weird "world music" too... with unintelligible screeeeeeching and atonal chording of unknown instruments. I can handle that at a decent sound level, but the windows were shaking from the level... I asked for them to turn it down and was told they have no control over it... bizarre. I got a pair of sandals and fled. then off to safe, stodgy old JC Penney for a pair of black small heeled shoes.... no 4 inch spikes, no strange and wonderful coins/chain/strange heel... just boring old black "court" shoes. I fail to understand WHY someone {the Sex in the City dressers} decided we needed spikes again, to make our low backs scream, the toes whimper and the plantar fascia vibrate... I just don't know..

I sound like a grumpy old lady. I'm not, really, I'm not.

Then to the dreaded eyeglasses. Now folks, I've been wearing glasses since I was 8. I have had some true disasters of frames, but now I'm just floored. If the lenses get any smaller, there won't be room for the bifocal I need! and the rimless ones I have now, I will never get again. I'm hard on the things, I fall asleep with my glasses on and "mush" them under the motorcycle helmet and all sorts of silly things. so I got the ones you can basically tie up in a knot. Luxotica brand and many many $$ but they need to last, they need to be usable for at least a year. and NO, no separate sunglasses (I hate carrying around another set of glasses...) so I'll get a few pairs of clip on sunglasses I won't worry about if I lose them...

I AM turning into an old lady... HELP ME!

Later, guys... Later.

LAW

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Marine Corps 10K walk/run

Sign up June 4!!! fees 45$ plus processing.

here's the link.

I will be walking for Sew Much Comfort - anyone who wants to join me, let me know. We need to sign up separately, but can meet up there.

Update: Vypergirl and I are signed up... anyone else? Hope we see you there.


LAW