Rendom Thoughts

is my new blog. I can't access this blog from work, so I looked into Wordpress. I really like it a lot better than blogger.

Sorry its been so long - promise to keep up and add lots of pics.

Here's the new blog:

Rendom Thoughts

The Girls at work

Me and all the girls I work with spent Saturday at the Easton Shopping complex in Columbus, Oh. It's about 2 hrs west. I swear every third woman I saw was pregnant. But I had a great time. Laughed a lot, ate great food, lots of window shopping. The only thing I did buy was a case of Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joes.

Pics from Kerri's Shower

Here are a few pics from Kerri's shower in Baltimore last weekend. We drove down from Philly for the day. Dan went to McGurk's in Federal Hill while I attended the shower. It was at Amicci's in Little Italy. The BEST baby shower food I've ever had. House salad with the house dressing was the best italian dressing I've ever had. It was a nice shower. I actually held it together fairly well. Only teary eyed a bit. This was balanced by having to sit next to the most annoying woman. She went on and on about how she only knew Kerri a few short months, but that she was so glad, what great parent's they're going to be, blah, blah,blah. Shut UP already. By the time it got to me I just siad "How I know Kerri and Dave? I've been her friend since we were in 2nd grade". Nuff said.

Where did spring go?

Here are a lovely bunch of spring photos from around our house and woods from the past week or so. It's been sunny, blue skies and pushing 80 degrees. The top two pics are from this past Tuesday. Today its been 30 something with snow squalls. What the heck? They say it will be colder for Easter than for Christmas! (quoting my friends father) Oh, I have a water bottle tucked into my shirt - not a tumor. Go WVU.

Ned's Obession with Burying Treasure

At Christmas my parents got Ned a stuffed Candy Cane toy. Which he promptly ran outside with and buried that instant. We hadn't seen it since. One nice sunny evening last week, I looked over to see him gutting something. Apparently he felt it was time to bring out the Candy Cane. He did a fine job of pulling almost all the stuffing out of it. Then he realized I was watching him, so he ran back into the woods to re-bury his booty. He hasn't brought it back out since.

Surgery went OK!

On the Monday after our great weekend, I had my laparoscopy. It actually included a hsyteroscope as well. The night before I woke up sobbing. I dreamt Dan left me at the hospital. I don’t know why, but I was fairly anxious about it. I wore my jammies to the hospital. Might as well be comfortable. I got checked in, changed into a gown and robe, then given a bed. They started my IV and then let D come in and sit with me until I went in. They added a sedative and some antibiotics to the IV. Oh – they had taken blood as soon as I got there to make sure I wasn’t already pregnant. So getting the sedative meant I wasn’t. Bummer. I started feeling woozy pretty quickly. Then they came to take me away, gave D a kiss and they wheeled my next door into the operating room. I told Dan it was like the opening scene from ‘Police Story” (I think I got that wrong - I mean the tv show with Leslie Neilson) I was expecting to go down a roller coaster any second. (thought that was funny) The OR was really modern. Transfer me to the table, strapped my arms down and started even more sedatives. I remember feeling confused. Then they jammed the gas mask on and the next thing I know I was waking up. I barely felt sore. I also woke straight awake. Glad for that. I felt tired, but I wasn’t groggy. I sat right up and they gave me ginger ale. I felt my belly and it hurt, but not bad. I had a feeling they weren’t in there very long. The surgery started at 9:30 and I woke up at 11ish, so it was pretty short. I got myself dressed – they said D couldn’t come back there. BS. They said the called him to get the car, so I got in a wheelchair. I have no glasses at this point. As we wheel past the waiting room, I can see his fuzzy shape in the distance - I realize he’s still in there! “hey! He’s over there, no one called him!”. Stupid nurses. So we just went to the parking garage. He told me the Dr. came out and told him that they didn’t find anything. I look perfectly normal. He took a tiny bit of endometriosis out, but it wasn’t anything. He also tried to get all the gas out. He really must have, because I haven’t had any gas pain.

I was so worried about how much pain I would be in afterwards. I got home and slept a few hours. But I told Dan, I don’t think I can sleep all day. So I read out on the deck. Both days I had off for the surgery and to recover were gorgeous. Sunny and almost 80. The second day I felt good again. So stupid me mopped the kitchen and hardwood floors and shined them. By 4pm my incision was killing me. But that’s it. As long as I take my giant Motrins I feel fine. My belly is all bloated, and it looks like they put a vacuum on me to suck out the gas. I have a big round bruise below my belly button that looks funny.

Its just a real bummer that once again I’m being told I’m perfectly normal. We go for a follow up with our local Dr next Monday, (get to see pics of my innards) then we don’t see the specialist until early May. Not sure what he’ll say next. Maybe an IUI with lots of Fert drugs? No idea. Then last night I had to shop for baby stuff for my friends shower I’m going to this Saturday. Not fun. I can’t wait to see K, so happy for her, but dread the shower. I can only do the stiff upper lip stuff for so long. Ugh. The stress and confusion. What’s worse, pretending its ok, or knowing people are trying to pretend for your sake?

Well anyways, we’re going to Philly this weekend to visit Dan’s family. We haven’t seen them since Thanksgiving. It’s been way too long and we can’t wait to see them all!!

Flowers at Phipps!

View from 36th floor towards downtown

Random Shots of the Nationality Rooms in the Cathedral

Inside the center of the Cathedral of Learning

24 Hour Mini-Break in Pittsburgh

Dan and I figure out that not since our honeymoon have we actually gone away somewhere together – just the two of us alone. We’ve gone on group ski trips, family beach vacations, visited family, etc. But not alone. Just the two of us. In a hotel. We were hoping to go to Las Vegas this spring, but even if we used frequent flyer miles and hotel points, we really couldn’t afford it. So I decided I – we – needed a mini-break. I told him to keep last Saturday open, and that we’d be spending the day in Pittsburgh. Little did he know ( ha – we just watched “Stranger Than Fiction”) that I had booked us a room at the Marriot for the night. So it wasn’t just a day, it was 24 hours.

We left around 12 by the time we dropped Ned off at my parents. As we headed into town – me navigating – I said, “just head toward Magee” (the hospital we go to for fertility treatments). He looked at me and said “tower of learning!”. Yep – I told him if he guessed things correctly throughout the day that I would tell him what the surprises were as we went.

It’s actually called: University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning . You can’t miss it in Pittsburgh. It’s like the Washington Monument sticking up where ever you look. So we’ve always seen it and commented on it. Figured it was high time we actually checked it out. We got a sweet parking spot right in front. The tour was $3 I think. They give you an ancient hand-held cassette tape player with a key attached to it. Oh – back up. Once inside, its just like a ancient cathedral. I’ve only been to St. Paul’s and the National in DC, and it was very similar. Big, huge arching stone walls and curved archways. Huge fireplaces, giant wooden doors with iron cross-bolts, flagstone floors. Pathetic to say I know – but very Hogwarts. And it was filled with big old tables with students studying. It actually serves as a building of classrooms and libraries. The first floor has almost 20 classrooms. Each classroom was decorated and designed by different ethnic groups that had emigrated to Pittsburgh. The college invited them to take part when the building was being constructed. So back to the tour – you get the player, a map and a key. You go around from room to room, unlocking this big old doors to see what treasure is inside each room. Each room was completely diff from the next. Scotland was great with wood beamed ceilings and benches, wood paneled walls, with big stone fireplaces and the names of famous Scots engraved throughout. Greece had marble floors and 4 huge marble columns and a round study table. The Nordic countries had pitched wooden ceilings, with lots of painted. Decorated wood, lots of flowers and natural motifs around. The best room though was China. Bright red walls, an ornate red and gold ceiling with a giant dragon on it, grey granite doorway engraved with cherry blossoms. A statue of a dog on each side of the door when you left – if you touched it and made a wish it comes true. (mine did). Dan about freaked in this room - I was taking a pic of the ceiling when he yells out ‘dharma wheel!’. Engraved in the granite under the chalkboard was indeed the dharma wheel with the ying and yang symbol in it. Freaky cool.

It took so long to go thru all of those classes that we skipped the rest on the third floor and went to the observation deck on the 36th floor. Really amazing views of Pittsburgh. It was a very pretty day as well. At one point, looking down Dan says ‘hey, is that an arboretum?’

Yep – that’s our next stop:Phipps Conservatory . Again, the parking gods were with us and we got a great spot. We were starving so we split a wrap and had a beer in the outdoor café before we started inside. It cost $9 a person. (still have a hard time paying for things like this when everything in DC was free) The spring flower show was on, so along with seeing lots of great plants, flowers and just the overall smell of spring – there were hoards of little old garden club ladies. It was really enjoyable. The desert room was my favorite. I always like the succulents. Oh, and the orchids were great. I’ve never wanted to grow them, but they were beautiful. They had a huge new addition that was a Thai forest. Spent millions on it. Actually thought it was kind of lame. You can only look at plants for so long though, and it was time to move on. Check in was anytime after 3 and it was getting close to 4.

On the way up I made Dan stop and buy a bottle of wine. I told him I had someplace special in mind to drink it. That’s where we were headed next. I’d never been to the Waterfront area. It’s a big shopping, restaurant, movieplex area. You basically get to Carson street and the South Side and keep driving up river. Its in the Homestead area. We pull into the complex and I tell him to make a right into the Courtyard by Marriot hotel parking lot. Huge surprise! He just kept driving around – he was stunned. And very happy. We checked in and I made him stand in the hall while I checked the room. I wanted to make sure we got the correct room. This was the last surprise of the weekend. I splurged and got a room with a river view and huge Jacuzzi!! Who doesn’t love a Jacuzzi?

Only problem is we almost killed ourselves right away. We both jumped in with a glass of wine. The water was so hot that after at most 15 minutes we had to get out. We were parboiled and lightheaded. My heart was coming thru my chest. Not so smart. The tubs need to come with a gauge like they have for babies – if the rubber duck turns bright pink the water is too hot.

We eventually made our way out to dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We could have tried something more adventurous, but we had a gift certificate. And the food is great. We of course had enough left over for dinner the next night. After dinner we headed to what is quickly becoming our favorite bar, Piper Pub. Only place I know I can get Strongbow cider. Yummy! While we were hanging out, I overheard the couples next to us talking and mention ‘jesuit’. I nibbed and asked if they went to WJU. They did, ‘oh, so did he – pointing to D’. So he ends up talking to two people who went to Jesuit. One of which who married a Brit and lived in England for 4 years. Lucky girl. We didn’t stay too long because we had to drive back to the hotel. I think we were asleep by midnight. How sad is that? Getting old. But sleeping in the next day with coffee, a newspaper, flatscreen tv, the river floating by, and nothing to do, was great. We need to make sure we get one of these weekends in at least once a year.

Red Stick

Hello from Baton Rouge, Louisiana!

I'm in the hotel lobby killing time as my plane doesn't take off til 3:45, and its 8am. We were told we'd have morning meetings - but we didn't. And all the morning flights are sold-out. It's not worth waiting to get stand-by - because the BR airport is so small, there is nothing there if you're stuck for several hours. So after I post this, I'm heading over to Barnes and Noble to kill even more time. Get a Chai, maybe buy this months bookclub book. The way its going I'll have 600 pages killed in no-time.

It's been a great trip. Anytime I get to come down here to our corp headquarters its a great experience. They know how to host in the South.

They put us up on a Suite hotel. I had two bedrooms and a jacuzzi tub, and kitchen. Which is nice, but odd. Just seemed like expensive over kill. But the hotel is across te street from corp and has a nice, free breakfast available each morning.

The weather has been great. About 80 degrees, blue skies, and the humidty hasn't been that bad. Lots of flowers out everwhere, and littel geckos everywhere you look. I had a big albino one waiting for me on my door. Big= 3 inches. And no - didn't take my camera. I need to get a really small, cheap, pocket digital to take on trips.

The reason for the trip was to participate in a focus group to talk about our hottest product - digital billboards. They only invited about a dozen people down for it, and it was really a bit of an honor to be selected. It was just SO great to be involved in a discussion with such a great group of people, from such various backgrounds. Best part - we went off into smaller groups for a quick project, then had to present it to the larger group. I got to present - and it was just such a nice feeling to get up and talk in front of a group of people that are exctited about what you're saying and giving you feed back. Loved it - and really made up for the 8th grade fiasco. Affirming moment.

EVERYONE who works for our company, I just can't say it enough - are such good people. Anytime a group of us gets together its like a friggin family reunion. Laughs, hugs, food and drink all the time. Its just been a great work experience.

Well I need to log off - the guy sitting next to me is having printer trouble - and is about to throw his keyboard.

colossal waste of time

Wow. The last time I spoke in front of a large group of people it was adults. Before that it would have been college students. Today I had to speak in front of about 60 8th graders. So prob 13-14 years old?

It was 8th Grade Career day for all of Belmont County schools. What idiot thought 13 year olds needed career guidance? arg. I got all the kids who said they were interested in "visual arts". The room they put me in was an old art gallery room. They had all the gallery lights on - so it was almost 80 degrees in the room before all the kids get in. As soon as I got a look a them I could just tell they could give two shits what I was going to say. I just ripped thru it as quick as i could - any questions? 4? good - ok - now leave. They just sat there in the overpowering heat with glazed eyes. The room smelled like old, sweaty sneakers after about 3 minutes.

Never again. I told the organizer thanks for the great speakers gift of a tote beer cooler (!) but that I wouldn't be doing it again unless it was for Juniors in High School at the youngest. I talked to two other speakers on my way out who said they had the same experience.

The BEST photo of Ned

I've been meaning to post this. It's just the BEST photo of the World's cutest dog. Look how cute he is the way he's sitting with his tail straight out. Too bad you can't tell he probably smells like deer poop right then.

Great Storm - Bad Dreams

Last night we had a great storm roll in. The temp was nice and warm - around 60, and we stood out on the deck to watch the storm approach. It was dark out, and really cloudy. The lightening was awesome! It lit up all the clouds - the entire sky. And some of it was really thick lightening, not just the skinny scraggly kind. We started counting the blasts against the thunder to track it as it got closer. You could start to see the rain down in the valley approaching. Then it got really loud. D said 'that's HAIL'. I was actually afraid it might have been a tornado - they always say it sounds like a train. We ducked inside just as the hail started pelting down. Most of it was about the size of a nickel - so pretty big. But it didn't last for long. It just turned into a huge downpouring rainstorm that lasted all night. Our hill road was not in good shape because of it. A lot of wash-out occured. Which means we really need a road crew meeting soon.

After working out, doing laundry and watching LOST (great episode bwt) I fell right asleep when I went to bed. Only to wake up around 3 crying from an awful dream. Yesterday day at work I found out a girl who works in one of our Missouri plants husband was killed in a car wreck over the weekend. He was 35. I had met her at last year's conference and really liked her. Talked to her alot and swapped a lot of emails with her about movies, etc. She always talked about having fun with her husband, just got the impression they were a good couple together. I just felt awful for her. It was really upsetting. I just kept thinking about what I would do I anything happend to D. It was just a horrible train of thought I couldn't break out of. So later, I had an awful dream. I was in the hospital and they kept telling me he had died. But I couldn't see him to get proof. (It didn't help that on LOST they had a hospital scene) But the dream just kept on and on and everyone kept telling me the same thing, but I couldn't get to him. It was just awful. I had to kick Ned out of the way so I could hug D while I fell back to sleep. I need to have a good nights sleep tonight. I hate it when I have upsetting dreams because they always seem so real!