The Gift

This story can now be told, because The Gift was delivered this morning. Via a courier - a friend I had dinner with last night delivered the gift to another friend whom I haven't seen in a couple weeks and whom I'm not sure when I'll see again. Soon, hopefully. But the gift needed to be delivered.

My friend N., aka Bug, was recently promoted. A big promotion. Huge! She's now making what I was making after 20+ years in the corporate world - and she's all of 22 (I think - she might be 23?). Anyway, I'm very happy for her and proud of her and glad for her and the college. I hired her into the job she was in when I left, we had a wonderful time working together and she's been doing my old job for the 18 months it's been vacant, so it is appropriate that she is now the 'official' person in the job.

I had been keeping my eyes open for a gift for her - something to mark the occasion. Preferably something for her new office (I didn't have an office in that job when I was there - a sore point my former boss and I still laugh about - and it's been rectified now so the 'new' person in the job will have the space needed. It's all good). I found the perfect framed print at Acacia - the catalog. I liked it so much, I ordered two - one for me, one for her. I had seen it in the catalog some time back and loved it - and now it was on sale so all the better - and two made it perfect.

I placed the order and paid for upgraded shipping to ensure the package arrived in plenty of time. N. and I had lunch together on July 16th - I took 1/2 day off for the occasion. The morning of the 16th, I went to retrieve the package so I could wrap her gift. When I picked up the box, I thought 'wow, this is really light'. And then thought 'well, this is the age of plastic - maybe they are in plastic frames with Plexiglas, instead of real glass. I opened the outer box and found a shoe box. 'Hmmm. This is odd - but maybe they're smaller than I thought and they put them in a shoe box [an athletic shoe box - pretty 'big' - wide] to add an extra layer of protection for shipping'. Um, upon opening the box....it was a pair of tennis shoes. Those 'special' tennis shoes with the weird heel that are supposed to work your calf and thigh muscles as you walk. They were nice. Sadly, they are a size 7. I wear a 7 1/2.

This is about 10 minutes before I need to leave for a meeting in the town of Linden - east of Stockton. So I quickly call the company - they apologize profusely, say they will reship immediately, expedite shipping again (no charge) and ship me a return label for the shoes. Fine. I'm disappointed to be going empty handed but N. will understand. This episode made for a good laugh when shared with a couple people - and I assured N. that the gift was en route.

The package arrives - it's heavier this time. Good sign. I take out one of the prints, briefly inspect it, unwrap it from it's bubble wrap and place it carefully on my couch. In my living room. Why? I don't know. It's where it ended up. And it looked nice.

So, yesterday morning, two weeks from the date exactly, I'm having dinner that evening with a friend who sees N. daily. And I arrange for this friend to kindly deliver the gift to N. I go to the living room to retrieve the print to wrap it - and as I'm wrapping it, I notice a slight 'imperfection' in the upper left corner. It sort of looks like a chip in the glass, though it doesn't really seem to be chipped. Maybe a 'featherish' thing underneath the glass. It's small. I walked by that couch, with that print on it for a week and never noticed. But as I was wrapping, I noticed. And decided 'well, I'll keep that one and give N. the other one. So I go to the box. And I retrieve the other print, still wrapped in bubble wrap. And I hear 'clanking'. And upon unwrapping it, I notice the glass is shattered. Broken across the entire print, diagonally. Now I'm really screwed.

I call the company again - they apologize again. They also, sadly, regret to inform me that the print is no longer in stock. They credit the order - and give me a coupon for $20 off my next purchase. I am gift-less once again.

But I decided 'ah, to heck with perfection'. N. and I are good friends. We talk all the time and we're each other's sounding board when/as needed. She accepts me, warts and all (and there are plenty). She's a true friend in every sense of the word. And she won't mind the slight imperfection of the weird 'thing' in the upper left corner. I write on the outside of the envelope 'PLEASE CALL ME BEFORE YOU OPEN THIS'. And then, I call her and tell her the story. About how many tries it took to get this for her. And I loved it because of what it says - and because I want her to have something to keep that she'll always know was from me. And she laughed.

She opened it this morning and my (other) friend said 'she loved it - and she loves the story behind it even more'. So I guess it's OK.

And now the rest of the story: I still have the blooming tennis shoes. I have called three times to follow up on the return shipping label they were going to email me. I don't have it. Every time I call, they ask 'have you checked your 'junk mail'? Yes, I have. It's not there. It hasn't arrived. The last time I called, the shoes never came up. So I'm waiting another couple weeks and then...the shoes,too...will become part of the story. Because N. wears a size 7! If they charge me for the shoes, so be it! As long as they aren't sitting here unworn, I won't mind a bit. They'll be worn by a great friend! And in that new job, she's going to need good, comfortable shoes.

Congrats, N. I'm so glad it's you filling my shoes!

Headache II

Second day of the headache that will not end. I suspect sinuses....not sure. I went to bed at 8PM last night, awoke at 5 AM. Rolled over in bed and realized 'yikes, it's really, really bad'. Got up and went downstairs long enough to follow the absence procedure: phone immediate supervisor (left voicemail, obviously), phone absence line and because I have direct reports, let them know as well. Then took Chloe out, watched her re-burrow herself into her lair and returned to bed where I slept until 10. Wow....that's a lot of sleep, even for me!

Had a couple lattes, a couple Excedrin. J. called to say they were packed up and heading down the hill - the boys anxious to return to civilization, apparently. They should be home in a couple hours.

I feel the urge to sleep again but am resisting since I want to get to bed really early again. Tomorrow, headache or not, I must return to work - meetings on schedule that cannot be missed.

Tried to catch up on soaps but the earthquake in Los Angeles pre-empted all regular programming. Admittedly, it's a big event; however, it was irritating how they try to make it so much 'bigger'. Calls in from people where they basically put the words in their mouths - the story wasn't big enough - so they try to make the callers say more to embellish it. I turned off the TV and went back to trying to tidy up my desk. Now I'm watching Law and Order. There's always a L&O episode on somewhere.

Headache

A raging headache kept me home today - bad....bad. Thankfully, it's not (yet) making me sick to my stomach, because that would really, truly suck. I don't do well with nausea and there's no one here to help me - so I'm grateful it's just a headache that makes me feel 'out of it' and like I want to curl up on the couch and watch TV. Which is what I've been doing most of the day.

There are things I have to do myself without J. Which only makes me miss him more. Like, for example - I just had to kill a fly. I hate flies. Hate them. And J. is the designated fly killer, only he's not here and there are two of them flying around in here. I got one - and it sadly landed in a little 'bin' I have with pencils, pens, etc. So, he's in there, dead somewhere, but I can't quite locate him at the moment. So that will be something to look forward to - finding a dead fly someday - soon. I'll empty it all out later today. I promise. If J. were here, he'd be able to reach it over his way where there's not so much 'stuff' for the thing to land in or on. But no, I'm alone.

I'm watching the show Family on DVD. I loved that show and am enjoying remembering it again today. And when I feel like sitting up for a bit, I'm reading food blogs - getting ideas for what to do with all these veggies. I took a huge bag of veggies to the neighbor last night - squash, tomatoes, fresh jalapeno peppers, cucumbers and beets. We have too much to use. Not to mention that I don't really know how to cook a raw beet? I guess I just slice it up and steam it? So that's why I'm looking at food blogs. We got a lot of onions this week - and found a great recipe for those 'onion threads' you get at restaurants. So that's an idea - and I know everyone will love them. Even J. who doesn't really like onions.

It's already late afternoon....the blah day moved along so quickly, considering I barely moved. I always try to not be a total 'lump on the log' if I'm home - I mean, I can usually muster the oomph to at least put in a load of laundry or something. But today, I've been a total slug. Complete, total slug. Oh well.

GOT HIM - the fly is in the trash. Now, on to the other one that is making me crazy. I leave the screen door closed so I can't figure out how they're getting in here....but they are doomed. With or without J., this is a fly-free zone!

Ships

Oh, one more thing. Last Wednesday, I mentioned that J. stayed in San Francisco 'late' to join friends for cocktails to see the ships that were in the Bay. Here's a picture of one of them that sailed near their offices - pretty fantastic, huh? What a great way to liven up a work day. I love the city!

Blogger 101

I asked J. to help me 'link' to the websites in the sites below, via the word 'here'. We got a lot of things done and crossed off our list yesterday, but that was not one of them.

So I used my latest, greatest resource for learning all the cool things you can do on a blog - and you can find help here if/when you need it. Just type in what you want to do in the 'search' and it will lead you to it! Awesome. The Internet is an amazing, wonderful adventure. I can't wait to see what our future generations do with it!

Blog-gate

There's a bit of a scandal going on in the blog world these days. You can read about it here. Or here.

It's a nice lead-in to a post that's been formulating in my head for some time....about this thing called blogging.

The strange thing about this form of communication is that you really do get 'attached' to the people you meet through reading about their lives. It's odd how close I feel to people I've never met. People I probably never will physically meet. My therapist thinks I like reading blogs because I spent most of my childhood 'observing'. Watching from the sidelines, quietly - silently. She may be right. That, and I've always loved to read - and always like to read about things that are 'true' just as much as I like to read a good fiction story. But it's easy to get more invested when you know you are reading about real people and real life. I do 'get to know' these people, via their words. And pictures. And videos.

I read a lot of blogs. And I trust that all the things I'm reading are 'true'. And these recent events - which at first, look like plagiarism (which is bad enough) and then turn into (skeptically, but by all appearances so far, true) something quite different - are just so incredibly bizarre. Someone needing to create an alter identity - because the life s/he's been living isn't adequate, somehow. Wow. I can sort of understand that blogdom lets you be anyone you want to be. That's possibly part of the attraction for some people - for this person, it was. But for me, it's really about just writing because I love to write. And if people read, and keep reading because they enjoy it, all the better.

There are some amazing blogs out there - Kate of sweetsalty.com is one of them. That someone stole her words - and her life - is unbelievable. I feel sad for the person that did this - they are in need of help, obviously. Kate's words have moved me in a way that is hard to describe. Like a wonderful book that you can't wait to read - that always leaves you gob-smacked at how eloquently she says things. I love reading her blog. But I don't know her. And I probably never will.

I read another blog - and have corresponded via emails occasionally with another lady who uses a fictitious name. And her kids have different names in her blog, as do her husband and her step kids. I've been adjusting to this because it recently hit me hard, when I realized through one of her posts that her kids names in her blog aren't their real names. And it sort of left me 'lost' for a minute - like 'how can I not know their true names'? I feel like they are Nick and Nora, but they are not. And I don't know their true names. Nor hers. She wrote me a thank you card for a gift I sent to her babies awhile back - and though I trusted her with my real name and my home address, she put no return address on hers, nor did she sign her real name. And oddly, that hurt my feelings - I don't even know her but it felt like we were 'friends'. But we aren't, really. We're just acquaintances in the blogdom.

I do understand it. I don't use my family's first names, either - primarily because they're fairly unique (B. is the only B. in his entire school - and while we've encountered his name here and there, it's not all that common). And like any mom, or any blogger, I'm protective of their privacy. And my own - though I also recently learned that if you type in my name and the word 'blog' on Google, you will find this site. My first instinct to that realization (which I learned from a daily reader/dear friend) was to make the blog accessible via password only. But then I thought 'what's the point'? In this Internet age, there's not much private anymore. Anyone can know fairly quickly how much we paid for our home; how much property tax we pay; etc. There's not all that much privacy out there these days, really, with the Internet teaching people how to find whatever they're looking for. And I decided if I'm writing, anyone should be able to read it - not just people I've invited - but anyone.

I do avoid writing in any specific detail about work - I don't want to be dooced (another favorite blog I read - dooce.com). Other than that, I don't really have a theme or a plan - it's just me writing things about my days that I want to remember. And want my kids....and hopefully their kids...to read someday. To get to know me. To remember me.

My only regret is that I didn't blog when the kids were babies. Granted, it wasn't as prevalent then - the Internet was 'new' (and I recall saying 'it will never amount to anything' - wow, have I had to eat those words!). But oh, how I wish I had all those memories - of first words, first steps, all the magical things that make up babies - somewhere to read. And re-read. My kids will have that from me, though for only their 'child/teen' years - not too much of their early lives. I wish that were different. So I read about other people's babies and remember. And I keep writing the now - so it will be their in the future. When I can't remember. When I want my grand kids to know about their dads. Wow, that's going to be fun!

Camping

J. and the boys just departed for Yosemite - an annual trip (usually, though they did skip last year - H. had football back then and it conflicted with the trip) with J's younger brother and his kids. Based on the amount of stuff being loaded into the van, you'd think they were going to be gone for a week or more. No - just today, tomorrow and Tuesday - returning home late evening on Tuesday. That's the thing about camping: it takes a lot of 'stuff' to survive in the wilderness. Tents, cook gear, stove, tables, chairs, sleeping bags, food, etc. My idea of camping is pulling up to the curb and having the bell hop take my bags. Now you know why I don't go. Just not my thing. When J. asked me for a roll of quarters from my 'fun money' stash, that hit me with ANOTHER reason it's not my thing - showering by the minute. And hiking to pee. Not my idea of a fun time.

There is a fire near Yosemite at the moment and I worry a bit about that, though J. says they are camping far from the fire zone. They've done research and talked to people who live in the valley and they say you can still see Half Dome - just a bit of haze. So hopefully, that will remain true. If they're not having a great time and are miserable from smoke, they'll turn around and come home.

Yesterday was an errand marathon. I went to the bank while J. took recycling to the center to cash it in. We both went to Costco, then to the health food store to pick up this week's veggies (more about that later) and then we went to the 99cent store - which may be my new 'favorite' store. I've never ventured in there before - no particular reason other than that it's not in a shopping center we get to much. But it's in the same center as the store we pick up the produce from, so it was convenient. J. wanted a small-ish container of dish soap for the camping trip - so we wandered in. Thought we'd buy the one thing for $1. Left with a cart full. Shasta soda! DIET! black cherry, my favorite and impossible to find. Also spaghetti sauce, Chiclets gum (remember Chiclets??), cocoa, etc. And Arnold Palmer iced tea - 1/2 tea, 1/2 lemonade - the kids LOVE it! It was a lot of stuff and we left for only $32. I was really surprised how much variety they had - especially in the food section. Sure, some of the labels were a bit mangled. Or the print run on them didn't go well - but the food was name brands and not expired - so what's not to like about paying $1 or less for things you use everyday/weekly and would pay two to three times as much for at the 'regular' grocery store. I'm sold.

Then we needed to head to Mervyn's - I had stopped there on Friday and found some shirts and pants - great sale price AND an additional 20% off for using my Mervyn's card. I'd read a few days ago that they are on the edge of filing for Chapter 11 and I think I saw evidence of that - literally every single clothing rack had a 'sale' topper on it - 40%-50% off, then the extra 20% for using their in-house credit card. Wow. Looks like they're trying to raise some cash. I rarely find things there these days - they are most definitely not targeting my demographics in their clothing selection - but I found a few nice tops and a couple pairs of pants. And we went back last night 'cuz the boys needed socks - and t-shirts. So we drove to Manteca, had dinner at El Jardin (great food - it's nice to have a 'backup' Mexican place on our list). Shopped after dinner, then headed home. The kids begged for Baskin Robbins (right next to the restaurant) but I said 'no, too expensive'. We surprised them by going to Fosters Freeze on the way back into Tracy. I had my usual - B. had a sundae and H. had an Oreo Blizzard. J. nibbled some of mine. Fun evening - and we all ended up outside by the pool trying to cool off. Nice evening.

The veggies look as great as last week - and so much variety. There's something there that we don't even recognize - we think it's some kind of squash. And there's kohlrabi, kind of like a cabbage. She included a recipe for it and I'm going to cook it tonight for myself to see what it's like. It's like Christmas seeing what's included this week - and it's all really great! We're enjoying it a lot -

So it's just me and Chloe here today - have to run to Petco to get food pellets for Fofy - (I don't know why Petsmart doesn't carry these pellets for parakeets - but they don't, thus necessitating an 'extra' trip across town periodically to Petco, where we rarely shop). And possibly stopping in for a final perusal of the Linens and Things store to see what's left now that they are in their final days.

I have some 'work' work to tackle as well. Laptop here. Need to get started on some things. It's the perfect day for it - up early, ready to go.

That's my Sunday news report. It's going to be very hot here today - the air is completely still and it's already approaching 80. Oh, and I have our most recent electric bill and we are doing GREAT - used (on average) 7 fewer KWh PER DAY than this month last year. We are all acclimating to the thermostats being set for 80 when we're home, 84 when we're not. It can get warmish - like last night when I was scrubbing the bird cage, vacuuming, etc. - hence the late night time out by the pool - but we're managing. And it's really helping, which I feel good about - and not just from the perspective of lowering our out of pocket expenses. Just feels good knowing we're trying to reduce our need for energy that's produced via non-eco-friendly generation stations.