tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77063082024-03-07T17:34:14.903-06:00The World of Gidget"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger866125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-82468057393241655212011-10-05T11:52:00.003-05:002011-10-05T12:08:09.069-05:00UPO strikes againYes, even when we think the ghosts in our pasts have been completely exorcised and are officially at peace, up rises a particularly troublesome individual that makes you shake your head wondering "what the hell was she thinking???". The UPO is a bit of a famous character in my past blog posts. A former staff member whose manner was extremely unprofessional and whose abuse of the absence policies Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-63925700612834959802009-03-09T08:30:00.002-05:002009-03-09T08:37:56.122-05:00A hero in Bonds undies...I can't help but giggle from this one. A kangaroo jumps through a house window, wrecking rooms and etc. Man wrestles it down and pulls it from the house. I can't decide which are my favorite quotes in the article:1) "At first he thought it was a lunatic ninja..." (this guy has experience with ninjas??)2) "It leaped through the window, this martial-arts kind of figure. It was very Jackie Chan.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-76168454003028445542009-01-13T08:23:00.002-06:002009-01-13T08:28:26.315-06:00Retreat!!!So the CNN digest this morning has a story about the pirates that hijacked the oil supertanker off the coast of Somalia. Apparently after receiving a ranson of $3.5 million, they released the tanker to go ashore in a small boat, only to be fired upon by rival pirates wanting the ransom money. It forced the small boat to attempt a return to the tanker, but resulted in the boat capsizing and fiveUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-65161009584756517382009-01-01T14:23:00.002-06:002009-01-01T15:18:01.350-06:00It was a day for Blue...On Sunday we were heading back to Orlando to catch the a Blue Man show, stay overnight and then do SeaWorld on Monday. Because Shayna had some car trouble, we were forced to take her boyfriend's BMW SUV instead, which I ended up driving because she's not on his insurance yet (due to her losing her license at one point several years ago -- teenage follies, sheesh!). Intimidated by the three and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-37378218530103139672008-12-27T19:24:00.002-06:002008-12-27T19:48:03.877-06:00Bull shit and Imaginiff...Some of Shayna's friends came over last night to play cards and games. We started with Battle of the Sexes but it quickly became tedious since none of us knew the answers. We switched to Imaginiff, which ended up pretty funny! Aside from not knowing everyone well enough to be able to accurately guess an answer for the question, I felt sure enough of my judgement of character to make an effort.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-17688610737809129482008-12-26T17:22:00.003-06:002008-12-26T17:51:36.142-06:00Lions and tigers and gators..oh my!We went to the movies last night to catch the new movie "Marley and Me". It was hysterically funny for most of the movie but, if you've read the book, you know the ending is sad. I think the whole movie theater was in tears by the time the credits rolled. It was a great movie though and I'd like to read the book now, since the book always has more to the story than Hollywood's version.I was upUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-50352257578658629742008-12-25T14:30:00.003-06:002008-12-25T14:52:20.166-06:00Christmas lights among the palm trees...My brother and I are visiting our younger sister in Florida for Christmas, leaving our parents in the frozen tundra of Iowa. They okayed the plan before we purchased our tickets and now here we relax in mild, humid temps while the midwest struggles to clear the ice and snow off the roads.It's odd seeing Christmas lights and nativity scenes among the palm trees. It almost doesn't feel like Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-91697071836544993762008-11-03T12:35:00.004-06:002008-11-03T12:42:04.863-06:00It figures...It's been over 20 years since I last had to suffer from poison ivy. I had hoped to have a longer record of avoidance but, alas, the universe saw fit to curse me with the tiny, itcy blisters....at the end of summer....after one rummage through the leaves in my small garden to harvest a few green onions...leaves that were stored from last year in a sheltered area...and no evidence of any poison Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-75295777952526929222008-11-03T09:34:00.003-06:002008-11-03T12:33:18.406-06:00Choices choices...I had a conversation with my sister over the weekend about the election. We had had several political discussions over the summer and I thought we were on the same page but she went rogue on me. *sigh* I asked her why she voted the way she did (on an absentee ballot) and she replied that it was based on one aspect of a candidate's economic plan...an extreme aspect of the plan, I might add. I was Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-36362348020099703902008-10-07T12:28:00.004-05:002008-10-07T12:59:13.072-05:00Those ugly words..."hiring freeze"...Over the past six months I've found myself with increasing periods of free time at work. This has been annoying and I had started interviewing for other positions because of it. I didn't find a position that is better or as interesting as my current one, and now find myself almost relieved about that. My employer has gone on a bit of a "we're-not-calling-it-a-hiring-freeze" because of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-470011534837388322008-10-07T11:38:00.002-05:002008-10-07T11:48:22.519-05:00The autumn hokey pokey...Iowans often joke about the Midwestern weather and know that on any given day in the autumn or spring, it's just better to dress in layers so you can add or remove as needed to be comfortable. This is why I haven't yet removed my window air conditioning unit from my bedroom and yesterday's heat wave certainly made me consider turning the central air back on!! I was thinking about that in the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-60315490329369178152008-09-18T12:55:00.003-05:002008-09-18T13:05:28.903-05:00A confusing moment...I was watching Barbara Walter's special on the British monarchy last night when I suddenly became confused about the music played during several ceremonies. Why on earth would the Queen walk down a carpeted aisle to the American patriotic tune of "My Country Tis' of Thee"?? Every time I heard it, I started singing...well, the few lines of lyrics that I could remember anyway. By the end of the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-47671331637484868252008-09-10T16:48:00.003-05:002008-09-10T16:57:12.428-05:00What a perv!So one of our office students told me she has concerns about a class she's taking this semester -- Human Sexuality. Normally I wouldn't blink at some of the things that would come up as curriculum for this kind of course but I have to agree with her that her teacher seems to be a complete perv!She showed me the article she has to read tonight, something along the lines of "how to make love" withUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-75892075071848584622008-08-30T09:03:00.002-05:002008-08-30T09:13:27.076-05:00Archaeoepidemiology...I'm still working at catching up on my magazines' past issues and am currently reading a past issue of Archaeology. In it is an article on the analysis of medieval DNA in relation to disease resistance. To my great surprise there is a modern population of people with a mutation in their DNA that gives them a level of immunity to diseases such as AIDS. Who knew?? So, in studying medieval DNA, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-51409862483136690542008-08-04T22:28:00.004-05:002008-08-04T22:31:46.303-05:00No time lately...I haven't had much free time lately which is why my blogging is rather slow. Between canning and freezing produce for winter and trying to finish up baby shower projects (for a cousin) or etc, I've got events going on at work that require extra hours and a lot of concentration. I'm also starting to meet up with friends for lunches, which is a good and bad thing. Good because I get out of the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-42825931197263140672008-08-04T22:06:00.002-05:002008-08-04T22:28:18.393-05:00The Universe is listening...Sometime in early July I was "given" the opportunity to join a focus group at work that dealt specifically with the group of employees described as "merit staff". We merit staff are one of many classification of employees in the State of Iowa and fall under the protection of the state bargaining agreement. Because of this legal minefield, my place of employment rarely attempts to learn of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-3929470302710246382008-07-05T18:27:00.003-05:002008-07-05T18:46:28.894-05:00Loud rainbows...This year's 4th of July celebration was out of the norm for me. Generally my family gets together every year as a sort of mini-reunion type of event. We eat, give each other a hard time, watch fireworks and then join the many other families creeping through late night traffic on the one road going north out of town to get home. However, this year my grandparents had made other plans, my aunt, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-71394949144483332952008-06-20T16:14:00.002-05:002008-06-20T16:24:48.742-05:00Waiting for the waters to recede...So at the same time as Becky was dealing with the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids and I was being told to NOT report to work due to the Iowa River in Iowa City, my parents had already evacuated their home along the Des Moines River near Keosauqua. They're currently bumming at my brother's place while waiting for the water to recede. They drive by and check the level from the end of the elevated Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-89765604111605468362008-06-20T13:33:00.004-05:002008-06-20T15:47:46.059-05:00Not until October...I stood along the curb in the Time Clock area of Cedar Rapids, watching as the second of Becky's trash piles was loaded into the garbage truck, and listened to one of the garbage collector guys talk about the flood debris clean-up. All day city dumptrucks had been passing by, filled with the remains of appliances, carpet, furniture and other items homeowners had discarded from flood-damaged Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-36205630932491694222008-06-10T11:40:00.004-05:002008-12-08T20:19:51.843-06:00911 Noah...The slogan in my hometown area during the 1993 flood was "911 Noah". It's been 15 years since the last major flood and now we're revisiting that adventure with The Flood of 2008. Where is Noah and his ark when you need him?So, I was browsing some photos on the Iowa City Press Citizen website and found one that had me cracking up with laughter. Even when you're faced with the destructive elements Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-70091417579027129852008-06-05T16:51:00.004-05:002008-06-06T12:03:30.819-05:00Row, row, row your boat gently down the flood...So, my University is under attack by flood waters... They're sandbagging, closing streets, and now, if I heard correctly, student dorms are being evacuated.The local reservoir is only 8 feet from the flood levels of 1993 and they expect it to keep rising toward that level. Output of water is increasing steadily, from 8,000 cfs (cubic foot per second) to 16,000 cfs, in an ongoing effort to keep Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-38107454852742250122008-05-29T11:55:00.002-05:002008-05-29T12:28:39.020-05:00Rebel by blood...Part IIThe roadtrip to Lincoln was initially planned to be a quiet affair. It would be me, my mother, and my grandmother traveling in my mother's car. Then the news came... another great uncle, who makes a living transporting Amish long distances, offered to take all of us in one of his vans. Now, the Amish are a fascinating group who live very simply, but...living simply without a lot of the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-66817512098518434702008-05-26T09:38:00.003-05:002008-05-26T10:03:30.251-05:00Catching UpI do intend to finish those posts about Uncle Dean's passing but I've been slightly distracted by other projects/drama going on in life. When will it end?Work is tense and I've been surfing the job sites looking for something different. There isn't a great selection so it may take awhile to find something that I actually WANT to do, not just what I'm capable of doing. We keep hoping things Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-85173981693323382872008-05-13T14:23:00.003-05:002008-12-08T20:19:51.962-06:00Harmony...Compliments of Lee's fabulous photography....Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7706308.post-66117065806690805262008-05-09T12:40:00.003-05:002008-05-09T13:11:51.319-05:00Rebel by blood...Part ILast week I attended funeral services for a great-uncle that had passed away. I've never been very close to Uncle Dean so when word of his death reached me, I reacted in a rather bizarre way -- profanity. It's not that I'm unsympathetic about his death and the family's grief...the profanity erupted for a purely selfish reason. I was planning to send that uncle a request for information about Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3