Just don't have kids if you don't want to be with them

People have kids to start a family, continue their legacy, have the next generation, etc. I've always figured that people who have children want to spend time with them, raise them, and enjoy life with them. And so- things like this and this baffle me. 

Example 1 - Jennifer Aniston wants to adopt and already has a nanny picked out. Ok, this could be a total lie, but why have a kid if you are just going to have a nanny? I get that when she is working she will need help, but it's so strange to me that celebs have multiple nannies! 

Example 2 - Jon of Jon and Kate plus 8 may or may not be cheating. Whatever. My question is - if you have 8 children, and your wife is out promoting her book - WHY ARE YOU AT A BAR? Who is home with your kids? OH probably a nanny. 

I don't get

why things happen the way they do. . 

I was in a situation today where someone was clearly trying to protect someone else - but it was the wrong time and place to do it. It was even sort of unnecessary! (when I say sort of, I mean COMPLETELY) 

Basically they were protecting the ego's of two others, but all this deception will do is cause frustration. I'm already frustrated because it is clear that things do not operate the way they need to, and if certain levels of people are not going to face facts, how will the next level do so, and so on. Our team is in a vicious cycle and I wonder who or what will get us out. 

Bike the Vineyard - Year 5

This weekend is the MS Bike on the Vineyard. . the 5th annual for me, 3rd for Colleen and Jen, 2nd for Lori and 1st for Beth. I'm so glad my friends could join me this weekend - the charity and bike mean a lot to me, and I'm grateful that they want to show their support. UNFORTUNATELY, Heather (and Erik) are unable to attend. Heather initiated the support of the MS society when we learned that one of her friends had MS. Then we found out our aunt has MS. Then it seemed, everytime we brought it up - someone knew someone that had it. This disease affects so many lives.
Together, we rode our first MS bike in Hartford/Granby, CT and then found the Vineyard ride. The first year on the Vineyard was a collection of people - our friend Sarah, our parents and our friend Jess. The next year it grew to include more of Jess's friends, then some of mine. When H moved to CA, I decided to still do the bike, though a lot of our former teammates couldn't do it with me. Last year was so tough - not just because it was 45 degrees, windy and raining, but bc I really missed riding with Heather. I missed singing 'Lonely Goatherd', 'Sixteen going on Seventeen' and any other random showtunes we could come up with. Riding along the Oak Bluff beach road, I was tired, cold and sad, but remembered Heather's motivational tactics - she'd say things like 'People with MS can't even ride a bike, you can make it up this hill.'

This year will be different. I know some people will take off and ride at their own pace, which is fine, I don't want people to be bored. Some of us will stick together, which is what I feel the ride is about. I thought it over, and realized that the experiences I had before cannot be recreated, especially with a different team. All I can do is embrace the fun weekend ahead and know that it will be a good time for a good cause.

wtf

If you have a question for someone, and they are less than 3 feet away from you, don't make a comment out loud such as "I'm not sure why she did XYZ." JUST ASK ME.

letter

Dear Spring,

I think we need to re-evaluate your process. You come in the end of March - which is great, bc my birthday is officially NOT in winter, my least favorite season. However, you have been slacking a bit on the 'springlike' weather in New England for the past few years. Only this weekend will it go past 55/60 degrees for more than 8 hours ! Can you step it up a bit and keep the nice weather coming? Thanks.

Also - I get that spring is the season for everything to bloom, and come back out after winter. Could you cut back on the pollen a bit? I have not stopped sneezing for the past week and a half. My head is pounding, and I can't take allergy meds during the day because I pass out like I'm taking sleeping pills (which I've never actually taken.) I spent all last Saturday night sleeping on and off instead of hanging out. Not ideal.

I know that part of my frustration with you is just my love of summer, and then the fall. You come right after the worst season - which earns you a few points. But, can you give me a break and ease up on the allergens floating around, and warm things up for me? Super.

End of the week venting

Yesterday, I was frustrated. I found myself in situations that were mildly annoying, and then just obnoxious. One problem was having to witness the following: when dealing with people, sometimes you learn how to talk to them to get what you want, or how to get them to understand what you want without having to come right out and say it. What frustrates me is when people say one thing, and clearly have an agenda, but deny it .2 seconds later and get mad. Seriously??

Example : you are trying to get an answer on something and ask a leading question.*
You: Are we going to watch the movie closer to 7pm?
[Awkward pause from the people who aren't exactly sure what you want to hear] "Yes."
You: Oooookay. (under your breath to whoever is around) No, we won't but whatever. I don't care either way, but I'm worried we won't start around 7pm.

Clearly, you have a preference for something - just speak up!
It's really more time consuming and frustrating to behave this way, no?



*not the actual example of what happened, but sometimes we have to change the facts bc you never know who reads this.

Crazy marathoners

Check out the 12th pic down on this link - how do you run a marathon in CROCS??

And yes - once again I am thinking, how hard can it be? I should run a marathon. I was going to sign up for a half in May , but didn't train and realized it was the weekend after the MS bike. SO - I have to find a half marathon in late summer/fall. Train. Then run the Disney Marathon in January. Maybe if I finish that - I will qualify for the Boston marathon and hopefully not die in attempting to run it. Crazy? Yes. But 3 yrs in a row I have had this thought, so it's time to just get $hit done. Maybe I will run a half and HATE IT, in which case this will all be a moot point. (Or as some co workers say, a mute point.)

public speaking is not for everyone

"In my country...marriage should be between a man and a woman" - What? that sentence doesn't really make sense. Are Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont no longer part of the U.S.? She said we can choose same sex marriage or 'opposite marriage' - no, only in those four states can you have a same sex marriage. It's ok not to agree with certain things. It's ok to have your own opinion.
But - I think this girl made herself look unintelligent with the unpolished phrasing of her answer and the use of terms such as 'opposite marriage.' I don't really pay attention to these pagents, or what Miss USA/Miss America, etc. does after it's over - but I'm glad she's not representing our country.

mildly amused

I was reading a blog on Google Reader today, and the writer was discussing an experience at a restaurant, as the customer. Only, it took me a few minutes to figure out what she was talking about bc she kept writing 'costumer.'

karma chameleon

I support the idea of karma. Not to the extent that Earl does, but sometimes you have to consider the cause and effect of your actions. I think that if you are heinous and miserable, life will be heinous and miserable right back at you. If you try to be nice and do good things, that will come back ina positive way.(Obviously, bad things happen to good people, and I’m going to cop out on that one and say, life happens.) So, what does this have to do with anything? Funny you should ask. In 2007 I got a job for the contract side of a large office supply company. I was excited, and ready for a new challenge. A few months in, I was having trouble with my boss. Our personalities clashed, her management style was tough to deal with, and I struggled with her attitude. (She was pretty high up on herself, and thought she was the smartest greatest thing, but didn’t understand things like - how to convert Euros to US $. When I told her that the Euro was stronger than the US$, she said, so that means it takes less of our money to equal theirs. Um no.) Anyway – I’ve sort of blocked her out and don’t remember why else she sucked. The management style of that boss, and her boss were not to work with someone and understand the challenges and make it better, but to manage that person out, so that they could go on their merry way and not be responsible. It worked and I left. I have heard through the grapevine that people are figuring out that this manager is not all she pretends to be, and that the people who have worked under her and left are not that bad (some moved to other teams in the company), but that they had a bad manager. While gossiping isn’t the best, and can get sticky – I was happy to hear that things might be catching up to this woman.

In a similar train of thought – I think that there are certain challenges you will continue to face in life until you learn to deal with or defeat them. I had a recurring personality to battle with in college. It was the girl who had to be in charge. She had to be the center of attention, always in control, and had people following her around and doing what she thought was great. I don’t do well with these people – because if I disagree with you, or don’t want to do something, I won’t do it. Anyway – twice in 4 years I was faced with a person of this nature. They were powerful – and turned sets of friends on their side / against me. It was a pain to deal with, but hopefully I’ve learned how to deal with them, and at least have had a break from someone like that for a while.
There is another one that is haunting me though – and I’m not sure what I did or didn’t learn yet from this situation that it WILL NOT GO AWAY. Ok, I learned the lesson – don’t date people you work with. I moved away from CT, and was happy to leave behind certain things and people. Unfortunately, Boston is a popular place, and a certain someone has since come up to this part of New England. I was happy at the company I work for and then received news that ‘someone’ was going to be working with me. Not at my company, but directly related (agency). Fabuloso. So it hasn’t been that bad. We haven’t had to have too much 1:1 contact. But he is around, which bugs me. The communication was limited, and it was fine. However, recently – I have been working more with the traffic grids and media for each window. Guess who has been appointed the person in charge of that at the agency? Oh yea. Lucky me. What is the lesson here, so I can learn it and be done?

perplexed

Sites like Facebook and twitter are great, because you can get in touch with old friends, post pictures and tell people about your life, and learn things about people you barely speak to. Knowing that it is a public forum, and willingly putting up status updates about your personal life - you are inviting people to comment and weigh in. What I don't get is if people don't want to discuss a private matter in a public forum, why would they post it there?

On-The-Go playlist 12*

Today is a headphones day at work. That means - 1. I have lots of stuff to do that consists of me sitting at a desk for the majority of the day and I need to entertain myself somehow. 2. I am not in the mood to hear the ramblings, comments or complaints of the people in the building.

This is risky though - because I could be caught off guard and startled if I'm in my own world. I might be tempted to start singing along to random songs on this list - esp. the Beatles songs on here. And - I have to be aware of who's coming up behind me so I can close out of gchat or gmail if the bosses come by. Scandalous.

Current distraction: Bottle it up - Sara Bareilles

*On the go playlists are a fantastic feature on Ipods. You just hold down the middle button on the songs you want in a playlist and they show up in 'on the go'. if you keep them long enough - they start to number themselves and save. I have 14 On the Go playlists = perfect for instant gratification girl.

4/1

So, it's April Fools' Day. This morning, I didn't really think of the date, and was listening to the radio. First - on Mix 98.5 - the DJ's mentioned something about a turnstile at Faneuil Hall to make tourists pay to walk on the sidewalks. People called in outraged! I thought, clearly this is a joke, esp since the female DJ was giggling - then remembered it was April Fools' Day. They got a lot of people fired up though! Then, on to WBCN - they kept calling themselves 'Power 104' and had a new team member - Amy, who knew nothing about sports (strange for a male targeted show). It was so strange - and they kept playing the same songs - Womanizer, and some other ones I don't know. Clearly - a joke. But people again, didn't think of the date and were outraged at the change.

I'm personally not a practical joker. I'm not a huge fan of surprises, bc I always like to know what is going on. And, it's not that nice to trick people!