Taking celebrities' lives too far...

This just seems strange to me:

"...The coming months promise the birth of the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie baby, still in utero but already presumed unprecedentedly gorgeous. "Not since Jesus has a baby been so eagerly anticipated," New York magazine wrote."

As quoted from CNN.com, http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/04/26/hip.
and.pregnant.ap/index.html

Competing at BSG

Last night was our final night of formal meeting in our capstone class. We did our last year of our BSG simulation, results of which I have posted! I was really proud of my team’s performance, especially because our strategy was my idea and worked out fantastic!

Through the competition my team would joke about how long it would take for me to get frustrated about not being behind the proverbial wheel and start typing in the information into the program over the person currently doing it.

I was walking up to my car with Mindy last night and I sheepishly apologized for being a nazi team member and taking control quite a bit of the time. I told her I was sorry if she didn’t get as much out of it because I dictated a lot of our decisions and understand if she didn’t feel like she got as much of a learning experience out of it as she wanted. She laughed at me and told me that she learned the taste of success in our first simulation (where we got 2nd place out of 9 teams) and how crazy competitive I was, so she got really into it right along with me. This time around she said she learned not get in my way and everything would turn out okay, which it did. I think she was good-natured about it (not mad at me) as she was joking around, but I hope part of her wasn't really irratated.

I’m going to attempt to learn from this and try to back off a bit more on other similar projects in the future. I think I need to get my competitiveness in check or I might lose my mind and my grace with my teammates…. If I go too far in not being competitive I might be disowned as a Templin, a family known for being hyper-competitive. : )

Dealing w/Problems

I was recently told that I must be the most un-problematic person that my friend knows because I seldom post anything negative on my blog. I determined that while I do consider myself optimistic for the most part, really I just don’t care. If something goes wrong I try to work it out and fix it. I’m not a brooder and I try not to be a worrier. On both accounts I figure that this is what’s being dealt, if I could do something to prevent it I would have (or if I didn’t I can’t blame anyone but me), and the only way to make it better is to fix it as best I can. I find that in many cases if something is mildly bad I don’t see it as worth the effort to fix it if it’s not a big deal. And if it's not a big deal I get over it and move forward.

That being said, after a traumatic hour on Monday night with a problem that has since been corrected, Jim commented that I “always” initially overreact and get emotional about things that go wrong. While this is the case for many items (my father acts the same way and I think I’ve grown up into him), I like to think I also behave like my father and get irritated then calm down quickly in order to efficiently handle the problem. I pointed out that while I’m very irritated about our STILL broken TV I’ve let go of it and decided not to waste my energy even caring any more and letting Jim run the project (and I haven’t even nagged him about it!). When Home Depot pissed me off by giving us a countertop that wasn’t cut correctly I fueled my frustration into getting us the piece for free. When a client chooses a competitor over me, yes, it pisses me off, but I let it go so I don’t hurt other pending opportunities with a bad attitude.

Maybe I just think I do this and reality is different. Perhaps Jim didn’t argue with my logic because he too realizes it’s not worth the bother of getting into it rather than because he necessarily agrees that my points are valid (like I assumed he did). Eh well...

MBA Wrapping Up

2 weeks left of MBA. WOW. I worked for about an hour and a half last night on my final simulation for my capstone class – did below average which was frustrating. Just as frustrating was the fact that it was on selling cell phones, which I do in real life, and the options that are effective in the real world were not in the game, which made it annoying. A team member of mine had the same types of results his first time so he went back and did it a second time so he’d get better results. I’m candidly too lazy at this point to do that, especially because only your first results count.

Tonight in my sales class I have a presentation to give with my group of 3 other students. It’s over a Tom Peters book that I didn’t really care for but hopefully can be spun into a good presentation. We’ll get our take-home final in class tonight, which will be due next Tuesday. I’m expecting it to be pretty straight-forward without much difficulty.

I did spend about an hour working our group simulation last Thursday and I got our results to be just under 2X the analyst expectation (which is awesome!). I’m hoping we find ourselves in the top 3 tomorrow night once the game is run. We’re the second most profitable group in the class, that better show up in our stock price and final results!

Weekend of 4/21

What a weekend! Work was jam-packed busy on Thursday and Friday so our sales outing, which let us leave at 4:00 on Friday, was a warm respite from a hectic workweek. A group of 9 of us headed out for bowling and beers but only got 1 game in before the lanes closed down for leagues. Departing from there we went to Claudagh Irish Pub for dinner and laughs. A very good time, indeed. Learning lots more about my work-girls than I did before- makes me like them all the more!

We went to drop the car off to Grandma and Grandpa right afterwards and visited with them for about 2 hours. It was funny because as the clock clicked later and later the chocolate-covered almonds and popcorn and Coke started coming out to entice us to stay. Gotta love grandparents!

Saturday we slept in a little bit and then went on errand-running duty most of the afternoon. We bought about $100 in flowers, which is a drastic improvement over last year because Mom gave me 6 huge hostas that she cut out of her garden. I spray-painted the wrought-iron porch furniture which KILLED my forearm and hand from the pressure of holding the button down for 25 straight minutes. It hurt so bad that when I went to fill out the information at the (da-da-dum-dum) gym Jim and I joined for the summer my hand was all shaky and my hand-writing sucked.

Yes, I recognize that this is practically against my religion, but Jim talked me into joining a gym for the next few months. Mercy Health Plex is amazing though (3 racquetball courts, basketball, free weights, tennis courts, whirlpool, indoor pool, therapy pool, unlimited free classes, cardio equipment) and we’re paying only $35/person/month to go that I couldn’t argue. As I’m known for being cheap I’ll have to go because I can’t justify paying for a membership and then not getting my money’s worth by not using the facility. Jim’s going to have to teach me to use all the equipment though as I have no idea what I’m doing…

That night we headed up to Dayton to have dinner and play dominos with the Williams. Good food, good company, as always. At the end of the evening they asked Jim and I to be the Godparents of little Alex. THRILLING!! I’m not anyone’s godparent so this was really exciting for me and even more touching coming from them. I was also really moved that they asked Jim as it’s such a testament of our friendship and their love and acceptance of him too. Bar none, the BEST thing to happen all weekend.

Sunday I got to hang out with my HS girl friends for our monthly “girls lunch”. Jessy is looking fabulously pregnant and I have no doubt that her doctor is right about her going early. I planted about ½ the flowers and plants we got on Saturday and Jim mowed. I have to admit that our house was looking pretty darn amazing by 4:00. I still have ½ of the front flowerbed to clean up and plant as well some drastic work ahead of me on the side yard where weeds have trumped my efforts last from last spring.

We went to our end-of-league bowling banquet on Sunday night and bagged 2nd highest handicap team game which netted us $32 and 7th place overall which earned the 4 of us about $48 each– more than enough to pay for our celebratory LaRosa’s afterwards. Anjali is stayed with us Sunday night and will again tonight. I have homework and Apprentice calling me so I’m not sure how good of a hostess I’ll be….

Sorry for the novel, but the amount of stuff I squeezed into 2.5 days/nights made the time away from work feel like a long weekend. Had some deeper thoughts about friendship lately that I’ll have to figure out how to translate into words. Might try to tackle that later today…

Good Samaritan or Suspicious Citizen?

A weird conversation took place today – a friend of mine told me that his parents, who are in their 70’s, were driving home yesterday when a teenager ran towards their car in a panic, screaming that there were people after him. They slowed down to look around and did indeed see 4 other people who seemed to be lurking around the kid now cautiously approaching him. The kid seemed terrified and kept repeating that they were “going to kill him”. Suspicious, his parents rolled up their windows and started driving away. The kid clung to their car for roughly a mile until he yelled “just let me go” (apparently he was caught to the car when they rolled the windows up). They unrolled the windows slightly and the kid ran away.

What struck me about this was that these are very Catholic people and their actions seemed to be the antithesis of what the church would teach you to do in such a situation (help someone who was in need). When I asked my friend whether his parents considered helping the kid he looked at me like I was crazy and said “you can’t trust anyone” and followed it up later with a comment about how people are crazy & you can’t put yourself in jeopardy.

Where does the line of being cautious and protecting your personal safety meet the fact that you perhaps just allowed another person to be hurt? I am fully aware that there are bad people in the world and perhaps the whole drama was a hoax for the kid to rob them if they did stop. Am I just too trusting and the world really is vicious and requires you to be guarded in every situation? What would you have done?

Big Decision Made

I’ve made a decision. After some good conversations with friends and family I’m going to spend some effort into preparing my resume and working to find an adjunct position at a local community college. I assume that my MBA, which will be complete by the time my information would go out, and my Ohio teaching certification in Language Arts will help me land a teaching post for 1 class a week this fall.

My goal is to dip my toe back in the water of teaching without changing careers totally or losing the flexibility of keeping my full time job. My hope is that an opportunity like this would let me see first hand if I have a passion for teaching or if it’s something that I won’t want to pursue at all. At just one class, 1 or 2 nights a week, I don’t expect to have to make any major changes to my schedule versus what I do now when I’m attending classes 2 nights a week and doing school work.

Jim seems pretty supportive of this idea so far. The good news is that there are several community colleges splattered across Cincinnati; just off one exit, 2 south from my office, there are 2 – University of Phoenix and Indiana Wesleyan. Karen C. seems to think that with my ability to teach both English and Business based classes I’ll be seen as a good asset for the college and therefore be able to find an opening more easily. I hope she’s right! I figure even if I don't land anywhere I haven't lost anything in trying and the benefit if I would way outweighs the time and effort spent.

Any teachers out there with advice on resume writing please send me a note!

Song Associations

I’m not sure if they remember or know why, but I have many a friends that I think of when “their” song comes on the radio. Sometimes it’s a laugh we shared over the song or something that happened when the tune was on. Sometimes it just really clearly says what I or they were thinking at one point. Or maybe they just obsessed about it when it was popular and therefore I attribute it to them.

Regardless, for the record, here’s my list of songs that I’ll forever associate with my friends:

Dale T: Wild Thing by Tone Loc (obvious reasons!)
Sarah W: Are You That Somebody by Aaliyah
Eddie P: You Make me Sick by Pink
Jim E: Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash; It’s Your Love by Tim McGraw (our wedding song!)
Rick K: Under the Bridge by RHCP
Little Bro Greg: I love you Always Forever by Donna Lewis
Kenny G: You’ll Think of Me by Keith Urban
Mom: anything Enya (because when I asked for the CD freshman year at UD she was worried it was some head-banging group)
Mark J: Humpty Dance by Digital Underground

Easter Weekend Happenings

Yesterday we helped the Childers move into their new house in South Lebanon. They have one of the largest basements we’ve ever seen – very clearly the best attribute of the house. Makes us think about our wish list for our next house… probably dangerous…

Jim’s parents came over around 8:00 last night. HUGE surprise that they were coming in for Easter at all. Decided we’d go get some Skyline for dinner and the car that they drove (Jim’s old Grand Prix) breaks down on the way! It was crazy because Doug was all boastful about the performance since it got 29MPG on the way down and handled so well on the way to Cincy. Calm before the storm apparently. Anyway, being Easter no place is open to fix it so we need to do some creative engineering with the car distribution. Thankfully Grandpa has always been willing to lend us one of theirs in such emergencies.

I’m making breakfast now – bacon, omelets, cinnamon rolls, French toast, eggs. This afternoon I’ll spend some time making my potato dish for the dinner. I got an amazing, though confusing, bargain at Meijer. Went to but 5lbs of potatos at 2/$4. I turn around to walk away and see 10lb. bags on sale for $1.88. Go figure…

Animal Thinking

This morning on the Bob and Tom morning show one of the hosts brought up how animals do weird things. His example was how his dogs, before doing their business, will always give him a look that says “do you mind? Some privacy please.” And how even though it’s just a dog he feels the need to turn his head and not watch.

I have similar wonderings about the logic that birds have, or lack there of to be more exact. Why is it that birds always seem to sit in the middle of the road and not move until the last possible second? Then, when they do fly away they sometimes seem confused about which direction to fly in. Couldn't they have determined the best path out of the way in the minute and a half they had when they first saw me coming? Are they having little bird contests of Russian roulette to determine who’s brave enough to stick around in the road with a 2000 lb. metal vehicle charging it the longest? Or are they really just that dumb?

Tribute to Nora

I’ve mentioned before that the aspect I like best about reading other people’s blogs is that I get a glimpse into what others are doing with their lives when I’m not with them. I realized last night that this reason is also why Nora Roberts is my favorite author. Nothing spectacular happens in her books (which is probably why she has over 155 of them in a 20 year career), there’s no amazing, far-fetched plot that takes you to other galaxies or time periods, it’s just story-telling about people who I can relate to. In the book I’m currently reading, Chesapeake Blue, an artist falls for the woman who owns the floral shop. They court, he has family problems external to the relationship that carry over from the previous 3 books in the series, and she learns for the first time what it’s like to be on her own. I assume they’ll admit in the end that they’re in love with each other and get engaged (pretty typical). Her writing makes them very real and makes each time I pick up the book and read a chapter feel like I’m reading a friends blog about what they did that day. As a result, her novels swallow me. I look forward to reading each night, as I do my friends’ blogs each morning, and am disappointed as fewer and fewer pages are left in the book. That’s really the only problem – I get a brief, 250 page glimpse into these “friends” lives and then it’s over. Thank God she’s prone to writing series!

UGH! People!

This morning was meeting galore. I had a great meeting with a good client of mine who’s looking to renew their long distance. No problem. Then, I drove to my next appointment where I met a new contact who is an absolute moron. I’m not just saying this out of frustration – this man really has no idea what in the world is going on. My previous contact, who was in the room with me and knew that he has no clue, sat and rolled her eyes as the man couldn’t answer simple questions of mine about their applications, hardware, or requirements for the project. He’s been there for YEARS and still has no idea what’s happening! I ended the tortuous meeting after an hour and fifteen minutes whenn this idiot tried to tell me how their network was set up and was totally wrong. When I told him that I had 100% certainty that I was correct because I personally set it up he just looked at me like I was crazy. At that point I ended the meeting, I couldn’t take it any more.

This kind of crap drives me nuts. I’m sure there are people like this in every organization. Makes me wonder who was dumb enough to hire them…

Weekend of 4/1/06

The weekend was pretty status quo. We got to see the Erdahl’s for the first time in forever on Friday night. Jim’s parents came in and spent Saturday afternoon with us (a rare treat!) and we went to my parents for a game night that evening. We did start watching Escape from LA with Kurt Russell which has got to be one of the worst movies ever (what a shock, Kurt Russell wrote the script himself and it stars him) – specifically because he’s such a TERRIBLE actor in the flick.

Sunday mom and I went to go see Peter Pan which was cute but not the best show we’ve seen this season. We won ¾ bowling games in the last week of our league and I bowled a 148 the second game (average is 112) which made my team (specifically my husband) happy.

I’m hoping this work week is more exciting than last. I’ve got more appointments so I’ll be out of the office quite a bit. I have to give a presentation in my class Wednesday on AMD which is only blah because I’m not very strong on their industry (microprocessors).

Seems like most of the girls want to UD Reunion party on Saturday night, which I’m all game for. That’s in June so I have a ways to wait yet…

Adorable Picture of the Day

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4152447.stm

Dentist Guilt

I had to go to the dentist this morning for my 6-month check-up. No cavities! : ) I know it sounds dumb but I always feel a twinge of guilt eating right after I just had my teeth cleaned, even if it’s healthy, non-sugary food. I remember once when I was a kid mom took us to McDonald’s on the way home from the dentist and she let me have a caramel sundae. I was thrilled but my mother told me years later she still felt guilty about it.

Explains a lot

After my blood work last week for my thyroid and the resulting bad news (its activity has swayed again) I had a new prescription called in. I was really busy and feeling pretty crappy so I didn’t make the time to go and actually pick it up from Walgreens for about a week. I finally got to it yesterday and was very disappointed to find that my dosage has doubled from what I'd been taking for the last 7 months.

This was pretty surprising because in the past year an a half they normally only move the dose in measurements of .025 increments and now I’m at 0.150 from .075, which I thought was rather extreme. If this really is what I need to make my thyroid behave I’m all for it. Such a heavy swing through goes to explain a lot about my mood over the past 3 weeks…

Selling Happiness

I had the pleasure of having a really great conversation with a good friend that I trust yesterday. I was having a really frustrating afternoon and Tom helped me to think more clearly on several issues and made me think on a few more. Thanks, Tom.

Part of what he got me thinking about was the following:

1. If skill and money were no obstruction what would you be?

2. Inreal life of course, skill and money are required for many jobs. At what point are you willing to forgo doing what you love for money. That is, how much would it take to persuade you to do something (career-wise) you weren’t passionate about?


I’m still trying to figure this out for myself…

Weekend Wrap-up

On Saturday afternoon I invited my bro Mike and his g-friend Lindsay to go see a movie with J and I (Brokeback Mountain as previously posted) and was informed that because Mom and Dad were out of town he and Greg were throwing a party at the house. So, while he appreciated the invitation he was going to pass this time. Then we hung up.

When did I get so old and uncool that I didn’t even merit an invite to said party?

On Sunday afternoon one of Mike’s friends from way-back, Jeff, came over to check out our house for some plumbing side jobs we’re hiring him to do. He brought his wife of a year an a half, LeAnn, and their daughter Morgan with him. What a scary thing to see the kid who once gushed about how hot I was back in college to now be sitting in my living room talking about the house their going to build this summer and how they get up at 5am each day to get ready for work and take Morgan to the babysitter. These people are 2 & 3 years younger than me!!! When did they become adults?!

I did feel better that he was the same old Jeff when he answered my question about where the name Morgan came from by saying “every Morgan I ever met was hot so I thought it’d be good karma for my daughter too.”

ATTN: Taboo Subject Ahead

Last night Jim and I went to see Brokeback Mountain. I wanted to see it for the reason that it’s apparently a good movie, Jim only wanted to know what all the hype was about. We headed off to the dollar cinema where there were about 50 other people in the theatre, including a really chatty row of women who sat next to us, for the 7:30 show.

On Friday night at the Cetti’s the subject of homosexuality came up briefly and the joke was made “when it’s two girls it’s hot, when it’s two guys it’s gay”. While I consider myself VERY open about gay rights I have to admit that even I was shocked by how openly gay the movie was. The first scene where Enis & Jack become intimate is a flurry of emotions and sexual activity for the characters and took even me off guard watching it happen. I felt kind of embarrassed because I wouldn’t have given the scene a second thought if it had been a man or a woman which tells me I’m wasn’t as emotionally/mentally as prepared to watch two men fool around as I thought I was. All those episodes of Will & Grace didn’t get me as far as I thought.

As you can imagine, the movie was cause for conversation between Jim and I about the subject. After watching the movie and talking about it I’ve come to see again that I am still very open about the subject and see no problem with homosexuality. My opinion of gay people being born gay (versus choosing to be gay) still stands. And my belief that two people, regardless of gender, should have the opportunity to find and love their “solemate” without criticism from anyone else is a right all people should have.

My respect level for Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger also went up – I can’t imagine it’s many actors who would read a script like Brokeback Mountain and be willing to so passionately play the role as they did.

As for how the movie was: Heath Ledger was often difficult to understand causing a number of people to simultaneously ask “what’d he say?”. The scenery was beautiful, the acting was very good. The editing was somewhat choppy for me, but overall worked for the movie. I was downright bored with the soundtrack though it was period appropriate. I give it a B+ overall, an A for effort in tackling such a daunting project.