Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Thanksgiving Eve

As I'm packing up to go out of town for the holiday, I'm clearing up my e-mail. I stumbled across this little gem. Enjoy!
BAD Parrot


A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The

parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.



Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious

and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to

change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only

polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could

think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.



Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot.

The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the

parrot got angrier and even more rude. John, in desperation,

threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the

freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked

and screamed.

Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard

for over a minute.



Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened

the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out

onto John's outstretched arms and said "I believe I

may have offended you with my rude language and

actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my

inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do

everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."



John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.



As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a

dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very

softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

Monday, November 22, 2010

A Carrier for a Cause

Saturday morning was a wet one, here in southern california. But that didn't damper my spirits.




Hiding out under the wing of a plane on the flight deck in the rain
BoxerChick and I grabbed some toys and went to participate in the Toys for Tots drive at the USS Midway air craft carrier Maritime museum down in San Deigo. Here are just a few photos from that very soggy trip.

 I've always wanted to visit this museum, and I'd still like to go back. With about 2-3 hours, we still barely scratched the surface of all there is to see. My previous impressions of life on aboard a carrier were forumlated from Hollywood movies and a few scattered KPBS specials. This gave me a whole new insight. Even the simplist tasks of day to day living are done here with deliberate cause. Makes me wonder about the submarine life FlyBoy will be enduring in just a few months.

Entering the ship



This is a glass floor to show the depth of the ship - and I'm standing on it!

Anchors away!
Not only did we contribute to a good cause, but we expanded our minds and saw something new. Well worth the soggy trip! 

Friday, November 12, 2010

A Less than Domestic word about Breeding

I'm having a very intriguing experience. Living with roommates is always fun, but lately my roomie's girlfriend has been over pretty much every day, and it's exposed me to a very different dynamic.

My roomie is a guy who works as a DJ under the table, and does a home based health product business. He makes enough to pay the rent, and we get along pretty well, so this isn't a gripe fest. He's a pretty good roomie.

But over the past couple months his girlfriend has been over every day. She sticks around even when he isn't here. For example, it's pretty routine for him to go to the gym every day. If he is at the gym working out, she's scrubbing his bathroom from top to bottom, vaccuming his room, doing his laundry, etc. All of it without being asked. She'll relax and watch TV for a while.  I see her go through the routine of getting all dolled up for him when he comes home, and having food on the table, hot and ready, when he walks in the door. The first few occasions, I thought it was sweet. But over time, it seemed odd to me. I believe that is through no fault of hers - just a huge difference in our upbringing.

See - he works less than 30hrs/week. He does DJ 2-3 nights/week and that's pretty much it. He spends his time going to the gym and working out, or surfing the net for more music.

She aspires to be a Domestic Goddess, keeping the house clean, raising the kids - ya know, the American Dream type (and God knows we DO NEED women with these qualities in the world as much as the go-get-'em professional types).

And then there is me - I've helped boyfriends keep their places up from time to time in my life, but never on a regular, daily basis. I have the mentality of, "This is your space. You're an adult. I'll help when you're overwhelmed or when I feel the urge, but it's not something to expect of me." Then again, I've been working full time since my teens- often more than 1 job at a time. Housekeeping for me is a weekly thing. I do the vaccuming, dusting and laundry about once a week. I cook on the regular and clean the kitchen here nightly, if not daily. I've expected the men I've been with to keep their own space as they like it, the majority of the time. We all get overwhelmed sometimes and need some help, but on a daily basis? Forget it.

I might assume that I'm less helpful than her, less selfless, more self-absorded, etc. But I look at my parents relationship as my model. Since they've been married almost 40 years, and are happier now than I've seen them in a long time, I have to assume they are doing SOMETHING right.

Mom was a Domestic Goddess for 13 years, but had skills as an RN and went back to work when our family hit a financial hicup.
Her mom moved in with us when I was 5, and spent her time working as a daycare provider, or voulenteering in some capacity. When she couldn't do that, then she kept the house up as her way of contributing to the family's success.
Dad traveled for business, but when he was home, his attention was on the family.
When my brother and I wanted something, we always had to earn it. We wrote essays on the Pros and Cons of the thing we wanted. We did chores. We saved up.

So working hard at something with monetary rewards became something vital to both of us. I can't remember a time I haven't been able to support myself. There as about 6 months of my marriage where I supported my little family of 2. Even though I'm working on changing fields, I'm grateful for the skill that I have (CPC -Certified Medical Coder) and I know I can always fall back on it if my more creative persuits don't work. I can't imagine NOT being able to support myself and trusting someone else completely with meeting my monentary needs. It's frightening and seriously doesn't even dawn on me to ask that of someone. Some blame my independent streak on being adopted. Others have just chalked it up to "that's how she is." Whatever the reason, I suppose we all see "partnership" as something different.

Some see it as: "He brings home the bacon and she fries it up!"
Others see it as: "His, Hers, and Ours".
Some see it as both people working hard at jobs, and at home when it needs to be kept up.

I guess I see it as something ever evolving - but sorry guys. NO WAY am I cleaning YOUR bedroom and bathroom DAILY. Personally, I feel that's enabling someone to continue to be a slob, but if I don't live in it, I don't care. It just ain't gonna happen. Even when it's OUR bathroom/bedroom, it's probably NEVER going to be a daily thing...

But you know what 'they' say... "Never say never." Who are 'they' anyway?
I suppose that's the topic for another blog.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Semi-Annual hair cut


Before the semi-annual hair cut - No scissors since March, 2010
For those of you that don't know me personally, some would say I'm a little behind the 8 ball when it comes to the usual "womanly" stuff.

Let's just say the women from Sex in the City would probably be appauled by where I cut corners. So when I'm looking to save money, one of the first things to go are hair cuts.  I was blessed with stick straight, golden blond hair that tends to take a long time to look raggedly, so I only truly go under the scissors about twice a year. This time, my mom sponsored the trip, since I've been in DIRE need of a snip for a while, and I'm effectively paying off my debts.



 After about 2 hrs in the salon, I've gotta say, I can see why women do this more often. A splash of highlights and a little snip-snip-snip and I feel like I've lost 5lbs off my head.

Thanks mom!

Monday, November 8, 2010

A Southern Californian Sunset

Most people think of Southern Californian sunsets as being most spectacular in the clear skies of summer. I beg to differ. I've always loved how the sun sets the clouds on fire.  Yesterday, my parents and I ended up at Pacifica Del Mar for a glass of wine and some sunset viewing. The photos can't do the sight justice...

 

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Tron Night! The Review!

I finally posted a review from Tron Night.

Tron Review

Feel free to read away and sign up for the blog if you're a Disney fan!