Fooled you!

In all seriousness, so much has happened in my life since I last wrote on this blog that, for now, I have made those posts private since they seem ridiculously irrelevant to my life now.

Where to begin?

Well, I’m once again a student, and it’s a lot harder than I remember. I’ve been out of high school for over ten years now, so getting back to the grind of papers, tests and studying has proven to be a challenge.

I’m also a mommy now – my son turns 2 in a few days. If that isn’t the definition of surreal, I don’t know what is. Having a baby is one thing, but suddenly having a two year old is quite another. Frankly, I can scarcely remember the days before him. I’m also not proud of him, no, not at all.

As for blogging, I think I will ease myself back into it. Writing is a great stress outlet for me. And right now, stress is plentiful. I’m presently working on the A+ certification, which is required to pass one of my courses. It isn’t a difficult test, but it’s certainly challenging when wedged between marriage, toddler and full-time IT job.

I’ll wrap this up for now, but I will be cultivating this blog a lot more in the months to come.

Sure, there’s been corruption and politics since the dawn of time, but, I suppose it just seems to be different this go around. Perhaps, it is because I have matured or perhaps the rules of the game have changed. The steps of the dance have evolved.

I’ve always had a keen interest in history, and as such, studied it with vigor. One of my favorite topics to study is the American Revolution. This interest came about due to the indoctrination at a young, impressionable age that the USA is the “land of the free, home of the brave”. Do I still believe and defend that phrase with the same valor that I once did? Honestly, I don’t know. How can we be free when we’re choking on a financial mess of our own doing? How can we be brave when we’re fighting a war without a solid enemy?

As any history buff knows, the great Roman Empire had its time in the limelight. But, a society can only propel itself forward for so long, growing and growing before, ultimately, it collapses. Of course, standing at the precipice of a financial disaster, it is easy for me to say that the USA is going to fall from grace. Our fall, like that of the Roman Empire, will not be something sudden, but rather, a series of drawn out events. Alone, they would not be enough to undo the fabric of American society, but together, they slowly unravel the stitching.  It is inherently American to fight for what we want and stop at nothing until we get it. This quality has propelled us to the forefront of global domination, but, will also be the reason for our ultimate demise.

During the American Revolution, in December of 1776, a young man named Thomas Paine was asked to write a few pieces of literature that would inspire hope and increase morale among the exhausted soldiers. His first piece in the series called “The Crisis”, he began, “these are the times that try men’s souls”.  Once again, we find ourselves in this perilous position. But where is our Thomas Paine? In 1776, they were fighting for the American cause. In 2008, we may find ourselves fighting, once again, to be Americans.

Hmm, so, we should all be excited about this, right? But for some reason, I feel like this is a massive wave backbuilding and it’ll come crashing down at any time.

My theory on what to do is just let it happen. Let us crash, create new regulations and get on with it. The economy is a lot like a forest fire – very much needed to add nutrients to the soil.

But, since we’ve thown more fuel on the fire instead of just letting it burn, we’ll have to see what happens. In the meantime, I think I will e-mail this video to Secretary Paulson.

…

Stop!

Forgive me, but, it normally takes how many years to create new laws and pass bills and the excuse is always “Checks and Balances!”. But, somehow, our Congress can manage to pass a law and the President can sign it this quickly? Oi.

Well, considering this newly found efficiency, I expect that when I go to get my new driver’s license,  I won’t have to wait two hours in line. Lofty ambitions, I know, but I can dream.

I am not an economist, and I can see both sides of this. With the signature of my president, I will become a stakeholder in pretty much the entire US financial system. I will pay, for years, as well as any children I may have, for this bailout. I don’t have a choice, it would appear. Regardless of the fact that I didn’t take out a home loan I couldn’t handle and did not invest in mortgage-backed securities – I will pay.

Right now, all we hear about is a doomsday scenario. If the bailout doesn’t happen, then the Earth will swallow us whole. It is stressful, and I don’t know if there is a real solution. On one hand, I think if we don’t bailout, it will be worse. On the other hand, I wonder if falling into a depression might not be a bad idea. It would force us to get things together. Markets will recover and things will go back to normal – it will just be different. With the passage of this bill, it is already different. This is no longer the America I grew up in.

I fear this country is headed toward another revolution or civil war. The very thought of it is disturbing, even though a little revolution every now and then is healthy. I just don’t think we can continue on as we have for much longer.

I hope I am wrong.

This is my battlewound received during my duel with the Gardasil vaccine. I took this picture tonight, which is 5 days later. Say it with me, boys and girls…OUCH!

The needle for this shot really didn’t hurt – the serum did. It felt like the doctor had released rabid wolverines into my blood stream. My initial reaction was “DAMN!” followed by the gritting of my teeth. But, the potential protection of this shot was worth the pain. I’m a whole-hearted believer in vaccines.

Over the past two years, I have had a plethora of vaccinations, due to my business trips to India. Vaccinations against typhoid, hepatitis a and b, polio, tetenus and japanese encephalytis. The last one, JE, was especially fun because those of us who are allergic to bees tend to have allergic reactions to this vaccine. Each shot, as it is a series of three like hep a/b, required I stay a half-hour in the office post-vaccination. The only reaction I had happened about a week after my initial shot, and all it entailed was numb lips.

Anyway, from personal experience – get your vaccines!

Anyway, I was drawn to the strange bath crap section where I found “cherry berry bath gel”. They totally ripped off the Bath and Body Works bottle design, but, like a fake Fendi in the trunk of a car, its second-rate nature was apparent. Normally, I won’t use any sort of unkown bath product due to my severe allergies. But, for $1, I figured, “What the hell” and into the basket it went.

As luck would have it, I didn’t break out in hives or go into anaphylactic shock! Now it lives happily in the bathtub providing me with soothing, berry, bubbly goodness. And the real bonus? It actually smells good – something that has proven to be a rarity when dealing with dollar store scents.

On second thought, it’s probably leftover toxic waste from Three Mile Island and any day, I will start glowing in the dark. But on the bright side, I will save on the electric bill.

Oops! Next time, get real security. Bill O’Reilly’s tussle with the technically elite.

Now that I am an investor in most of the US financial structure, can I vote in their board meetings? U.S. Gov’t Plans Bold Financial Rescue

Does your PC have a cold or the flu? Call the PC Ambulance!

I’ll just have a glass of water, please. America’s Worst Breakfast Foods

E-Trash in Asia? Surely, you jest! The worst green “tech recycling” program

So, I’ve spent this Labor Day weekend cleaning out my apartment. Yesterday, I cleaned out the fridge and cabinets. Now, normally, I am a very organized person, but embarrassingly enough, I found a multitude of empty cereal boxes. And I rarely eat cereal. I also found a bag of wheat rolls that time forgot. So, I got all OCD and organized the cabinets. This led to a mountain of trash.

There had been a break in the storm, so I decided to take out the trash. On the 2 minute walk to the communal trash cans, the clouds opened up and sent a tidal wave of water down. I walked back to my apartment absolutely soaked…and it felt wonderful.

Lately in my life, I have felt disorganized – like something is wrong, or missing. Storms happen because there is in imbalance in the atmosphere, and the storm will go on until that imbalance is corrected. The rain last night represented that for me. Walking in the rain with my ipod, not caring if I was soaked from head to toe, feeling the drops on my face…it was just perfect. It felt like a cleansing and I felt alright with the world again. It was symbolic for the day, as a few things had been revealed that I needed to know.

Being the weather nut that I am, and because I live nowhere near the Gulf Coast/Florida where all the action is currently happening, I had to take photos. I took a risk and took my very costly Nikon D40X out into the storm. I sought refuge under my carpark and snapped pictures of the rain. Unfortunately, I couldn’t manage to snap pictures of the lightening – but trust me when I say it was spectacular.

When things are tough, and there’s something wrong I just can’t put my finger on – I need to learn patience. The Universe is an amazing force and will always correct that imbalance. And I have faith that is exactly what happened…because we don’t get many downpours here in the desert.

Today, I walked into a room here at my office, and I smelled something that I can only describe as “Easter”. And, being the strongest sense tied to memory, it brought a wave of childhood memories back. I can only describe this smell as when you open a bag of Kraft multi-colored marshmallows. It smells like sugar and Spring at the same time.

 When I was a little girl, as is tradition in many homes, the Easter Bunny dropped by and left a basket of sweets and small toys for my brothers and I on Easter Sunday. I remember waiting with such anticipation for Sunday morning to come so I could see what this magical member of the Leporidae family left for me.

For so many years, I would awaken and breathe in the smells of Sunday breakfast cooking; one great American tradition that lived on in my house.  The delightful aroma of bacon, scrambled eggs, toast and pancakes lured me from the land of dreaming. I raced down the stairs and into the living room, and found the omnipotent Easter Bunny had left a basket. As a child, I thought this was the most amazing thing in the world. Somehow, this bunny got into the house, arranged baskets, and escaped before anybody realized he was there. How did he do it?

It was at this point that my brothers and I would compare baskets and argue over which one of us got the better basket. Of course, my being a girl and them being boys, it wasn’t really an apples to apples comparison. My favorite treat of all that the bunny let me were these mini egg cartons with pieces of bubble gum shaped like eggs. To this day, for nostalgia’s sake, I still buy them at Easter time. My second favorite Easter confection is what I call “Lipstick Eggs”. To the rest of the world, they are chocolate covered malt-balls in the shape of an egg. The candy coating on the outside, once wet, rubs off on the lips. So, as a little girl, I used them as lipstick, so I could have lipstick like my mother.

Since I was raised a Southern Baptist, after breakfast and basket-comparing, we got dressed for church.  As per tradition, I wore an Easter dress and sometimes a little hat. My brothers wore nice pants and sweater vests. My mom wore a dress and Vanderbilt perfume. Once at church, we’d go through our Sunday School routine and perhaps make some sort of craft, like a paper rabbit with cotton balls glued on, or color a page about Jesus. Then, it was onto the service. Being a young child, the service didn’t interest me, and I would look at the pictures in the children’s bible, or color in a book I brought with me. I remember on the walls, there were a few embroidered banners. One in particular stands out in my mind; a white banner with blue and green text that said “He is Risen!”. After worship services, we had fellowship. This is when those who chose to would go to the church basement, where there was a small kitchen and eating area and have coffee, punch, or juice with cookies or other small snacks. This was a way to build relationships with other church members. The smell of coffee will always remind me of this. The room was lit with fluorescent lights; the floor was concrete with linoleum tiles. The chairs were tan folding chairs and made of metal.

After church, we went home and changed into more comfortable clothes. Then, it was off to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Once there, we’d enjoy Easter dinner together, which everybody brought some sort of dish to share. As per tradition, we had an Easter ham, and something known to most Utahans as “funeral potatoes”. I can’t describe just how good those things are! It’s a huge part of the culture here in Utah and they get their name from the luncheon that generally follows a Mormon funeral.  

At Grandma’s, after dinner, I would play with my cousins, of which there were plenty. And of course – the Easter egg hunt! All of the grandkids would be herded inside while the adults hid all the plastic eggs filled with candy.  Then, they turned us loose. Now, in my family, there was a tradition of hiding a gold-colored egg that was filled with a little bit of money; everybody wanted that one! Also, every year, my grandfather passed out a chocolate Easter bunny, an apple and an orange to everybody. As soon as we got home, we would put our bunnies in the freezer and eat them throughout the week.  After the egg hunt, we all started to part ways and go back home.

In summation, Easter reminds me of happy times, and whenever I smell that particular scent…it takes me all the way back to when I was a little girl in my Easter dress.