Odds and Ends

I don't really have anything to 'essay' about or have the typical conversation, but here are some snippets of things that have been going on or that I fell are worthy of comment.

I thought that Kathi had a link to the blog. I was wrong, but recently remedied that . In the early origins of the blog, she was dubbed 'Giggles'. The name has always fit her, she truly lives to laugh. She decided to go back to the beginning of my ramblings and commented about her nickname her on my piece of the net. Her husband is an extremely funny guy and was amused by this nickname, but it left him puzzled. "If you're Giggles, does that mean I'm Shits?" ROTFLMAO!

Jane is still in the hospital, however, daily we're informed that she'll be coming home 'tomorrow'. I suspect this is not because the doctors have expressed this directly, more that Jane is tired of being imprisoned in a hospital bed. Hey, who can blame her? Taking bets on whether tomorrow really is the day...

Sad news. A coworker's dad passed away suddenly last week. He and his partner both work for us-nice guys. After covering his shifts for the weekend, he came back to work yesterday. In expressing my condolences, I asked if his dad had been sick. The only issue the 60 year old man had was a bout of congestive heart failure last year. This was his second episode, but otherwise he'd been healthy-he'd even spoken to his son the day before and was fine. Scared the shit out of me for Jane's situation, as she's got other health issues on top of CHF.

I periodically peruse the unclaimed funds websites for the states I've lived in. Not only for my current name, but my previous. Heck, I also look up friend's surnames, too. My most recent foray into the NY State's OSC site found one entry for Jane, two for Nancy and one for my ex mother in law at her (deceased) mother's address.

It didn't take much prodding from a friend to do what I knew was right. I contacted my ex's sister, knowing that she'd handle it the right way. I got a nice email back. Ex's mom has been in a nursing home for two years now and his sister is carrying the burden of settling estates for dad and brother who passed last year and selling the family home. My heart goes out to her, because she has a lot of work in front of her. Selling a small house in a soft real estate market is never easy. I suspect that she did a lot of work on that house to get it in show worthy condition.


I had two people become the glue to me this past week. My 'sorta little sister' pinged me on AIM, after we haven't been in touch for a while. It's good to catch up-and I feel like I need to give her big sister advice. Namely, you don't move to Brooklyn or Queens UNLESS you've got a job lined up first! Still, I'm glad she sought me out and I will work to keep that glue fastened.

My first Maryland friend contacted me, fearful that the tornado swath last week affected us. Fortunately, we're further south (in case any of you are wondering). It was nice to catch up on his happenings. I've been guilty of putting off phone calls for a while and I'm so thankful that he picked up the phone. Amazing that you can pick up where you left off with some people without missing a beat.

And why is it that I procrastinate so badly when it's time to do a self appraisal for work? I dread these things. Usually, I'm quite objective about rating other's performances (and my boss seeks out my input already), but when it's time to rate myself, I see all the things I'm doing wrong and not as much of what I'm doing right. Oy. Perhaps next year's will be easier, but I still feel quite green in this job-it's nothing like any other retail job I've had. As a result, I think I'm doing horribly, but the boss reassures me that I'm fine and with some time, I'll be much better.

Dreaming of vacations, and trying to figure out how the heck I can get to the place pictured above. That's the Seth Peterson cottage in Wisconsin. Visit the website at www.sethpeterson.org. The cottage was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is unique in that you can stay there. Pretty neat. However, the price tag per night and the distance involved means this is probably in the realm of something to do when I'm retired. (Yeah, like that will ever happen) Hey, that doesn't stop me from dreaming. :)

Speaking of vacations, Liz has invited me up to Indiana for a girls weekend in May. She's hosting several ladies from an online group we've been in at her brand new beautiful house. I think that the lack of sleep now is probably good preparation for spending a weekend with this group. Should I go (and I really want to), I think my sides will be sore from laughing the whole time. I love my house full of men, but sometimes, girl time is needed, lol.