A day at the zoo

There is a reason why I have nicknamed these two young men Creative Guy and Adventure Boy.

Yesterday we went to the zoo.  It was so fun and a good reminder of how awesome it is to see the world through kids size glasses.  The world is HUGE!

Adventure Boy lived up to his name.  He was literally running circles around us at any moment in time.  I nick named him the great peacock hunter, as he tried to get close enough to touch the peacock...until it went into the off-limits area of the zoo.  I gave him the camera as we rode the train around a portion of the zoo.  Turns out he likes to photograph people. 








Adventure Boy asked a million questions, had a million statements to make and I knew when we got back into the car to go home he would crash...HARD.  Which he did.  He woke up and immediately joined the conversation going on in the car, to which Creative Guy said "wait, you're awake?"  The prompt indignant response from Adventure Boy was "I wasn't asleep!"  Riiiiiiight...

Creative Guy kept saying "I bet this would make a great movie" as we moved from exhibit to exhibit.  He was just as animated as his brother at times (I think R-girl and I both have sore stomachs and arms from the multiple head-butts and head bumps throughout the day from both boys!) but all of a sudden he would get very serious as if he was viewing the zoo through a movie camera lens.  At one point I was reminded that he is growing up as he looked at me and said "You're embarrassing me."  Ooofff.  When did I become my Mom?

We did get a group photo, though neither of them try too hard to smile when a camera is brought out.  I did, however, catch a couple of great candid photo's of them.  It was fun to spend the day with them and R-girl.  I would classify the day as a success as they both said as we were leaving, "Next time we need to..."

It was a good day at the zoo.

The Olympics--a new sport?

I think there should be a new Olympic sport.  It could be called light rail riding.  The goal would be to try to maneuver your way onto an already full light rail train, jockey for position standing and then be judged on how little one moves when the light rail train suddenly stops, accelerates or goes over other tracks or around a corner.

A perfect score* would be for the person who can do all of the above in the middle of the train without holding on or leaning into anything...or touching anyone else if it's a REALLY full train.

That would be the kind of Olympic sport I could compete in.  I have a lot of training to do.  Lucky for me the light rail has been extra full lately and standing time has been in abundance.

*Speaking of perfect scores, does anyone else miss the old judging system for gymnastics?  A score of 15.70 doesn't mean anything to me.  Where are the 9's and 10's?  Why does everything have to change?!   Oops, sorry started channeling church people for a moment**.




(**Yes, I did take my extra snarky pills today, thanks for asking.)

The Olympics--Dear NBC

Dear NBC,

I understand, really I do.  In order to get as many people watching as possible you need to go for those "prime-time" hours.  Yes, I keep falling asleep in the middle of the event I really wanted to see but whose fault is that for having a job requiring me to be up and leaving the house soon after 7am?  Fault mine.  I do secretly wish programming would start at 7pm but I'll just keep that a secret for now.

What I don't understand is the coverage last night of gymnastics.  Not coverage of the CURRENT Olympic games but the at least 20 minute recap of years gone by.  What?!  I changed the channel and went to "Say Yes to the Dress".  I kept flipping back and forth and yet still there was the story of years gone by.  I was getting frustrated by then.  I know there had to be other sports that had contests yesterday in the 2012 Olympics but no, you chose to focus on years gone by.  I will admit, I didn't watch so maybe you tied it all together nicely.  I hope you did.  I just refused to watch.

I'm just one person, sitting at home in California, wanting to cheer on the Olympiads.  Your monopoly on the Olympic games meant that I couldn't do that...because by the time we got back to the recap of the days events, well, I was tired and I had disconnected from the Olympics.  Sure I tried.  I watched diving, I watched swimming, I think somewhere in there was coverage of shot put and maybe some volleyball, maybe running?  The drive, the enthusiasm, the WANT to really stay awake and watch the coverage by then had died.

NBC, I know you've paid all of the commentators a lot of money to be at the Olympics.  You've spent a lot of money on the newscasters and want to give them their time.  I get it.  I just won't watch the human interest stories from years gone by.  I'll change the channel and maybe hop back.  Or maybe I'll just search the internet and find YouTube videos or recaps of the events there.  It's not the same as taped, edited coverage with announcers who seem out to build up our expectations of one athlete in each event and then be completely surprised by the performance of another, but it's something.

Now, I've got to go see if I can find that runner from Cameroon that I saw for 10 seconds of actual coverage yesterday and see when she's running again.  I need to cheer her on for my Office building mate.  I'm hoping the World Wide Web will have some coverage of that race because NBC, I've lost trust in you.

Sincerely,
A want-to-be 2012 Olympic Viewer

The Olympics

The Olympics have arrived.  My life is on hold for the next two weeks.  Thanks for stopping by.


















Just kidding, kinda.  I do love the Olympics.  I refuse to root just for USA Olympians and usually find one person to root for in the field, no matter what country they are from.  I have an admitted hard time watching diving (jump away from the cement platform!), balance beam (too tiny, don't fall!) and pommel horse (swing higher!).  But I watch these events anyway.  Along with whatever they choose to highlight in the evening showcase.

Every Olympic season, though, I get annoyed with the announcers.  Really annoyed.  I feel like the announcers build the Olympians up so much and then when they don't perform up-to-speed I feel realllllllllyyyyyyy bad for them.  The announcers just like to mess with our emotions, that's what I think.  Last night I finally hit the mute button and watched the Olympics in silence.  It works in swimming, diving, volleyball and other sports.  The floor routine for women's gymnastics was a little different without the music but I was so much happier without the announcers.

This year, during the opening ceremony the announcers confirmed that they were annoying.  The parade of nations moved so fast they announcers couldn't keep up with the nations as they were shown on the screen.  Their recitation of the "fun-facts" aka crap-no-one-wants-to-hear-about-right-now slowed things down and they admitted it.  That was the moment the room of 6 of us were yelling at the announcers "then stop talking!" 

I wonder if we can invent a TV that allows you to mute the announcers voices but keep the back ground sounds? Hmmm...that would help with Ice Skating during the Winter Olympics, for sure!

Alright, time to head back to my Olympic viewing.  Never fear, I will be back with more!  We haven't even begun to talk about the itty-bitty outfits!!

All in a day...

Today started off at 3am with a "snap-thunk" as a rat got caught in the peanut butter laced trap that had been waiting for it under the deck.  Of course, there was only one trap and two rats (I heard the partner moving about after the thunk) but we are one rat down!

I was awake for the next hour.  Wide awake.

After getting back to sleep I wok up with a start, sure I had overslept.  Nope, right on time, though pulling myself out of bed was especially difficult after my hour of awake time from 3-4.  But pull myself out of bed I did, if 10 minutes later.  I would forgo the coffee run today.

I pulled into the bus park n' ride at 7:40, gathered my belongings and started walking to the bus stop and as the bus pulled up.  Early today.  That should have been my first clue.

The bus was full, so I took the first available seat, the side bench behind the driver at the front of the bus, knowing I would need to move if someone in a wheelchair or in need of a front seat should get on the bus.  What I didn't anticipate was being glared at by the lady in the seat to my right the whole way to work.  I have no idea what I did to deserve the glare.  Truly, no idea.

I also did not anticipate the sudden stops and starts of the bus.  This was a new-to-me bus driver and he stopped suddenly and started quickly.  Sitting on a side facing bench seat was a challenge today.  I felt myself sliding and had to position my feet so I was braced enough not to slide right off into the aisle, all the while keeping my bags under control and away from glaring woman.  The new-to-me bus driver was also speedy.  He passed many a vehicle on the way over the hill.  We got my light rail stop ahead of the "A" train by minutes.  The last few days we've pulled up as the "A" train was heading away from the stop.  Sudden stops and starts aside, if I get where I want to be on time and the bus driver is personable, it's all good!  I would prefer to remain in my seat with my seat belt fastened until the bus comes to a full and complete stop and the driver turns off the fasten seat belt sign, but buses don't have seat belts.  With some drivers, that might be a good idea.

The light rail was pretty uneventful, except for the guy who was watching rap videos on his cell phone and sharing the music with the whole train.  I briefly imagined having enough money to carry around headphones with me, ready to hand out to people who don't have them in public places such as the light rail.  2nd day in a row I've had to listen to rap crap.  Not a fan.

Arriving at work there was a man pacing back and forth in the lobby.  The office center rents out conference rooms for lawyers to handle depositions.  This guy was supposed to have a deposition and no one had rented the conference room.  So he paced the lobby talking sternly on his cell phone to his secretary, hundreds of miles away until they worked things out and he was given a room...right across from my office.

Then, out in the lobby I heard a horrible fit of coughing.  Really awful, I tell you.  That whopping cough sound?  That was coming from the lobby.  I almost went to find masks for the receptionist and anyone else in the building.

The court reporter arrived for the deposition in the office across the hall.  She was loud and flirty and nosey.  Yikes.  Lawyer started flirting.  Nice.  Finally the client came for the deposition and they closed the door.  But wait!  Deposition #2 is in the conference room to my right!  The lawyer for one of the participants pulled her into the hall (again, right outside my office) and said in stern tones "yes or no answers, stop giving them too much information".  I closed my door a little farther.

Of course, during all of this I'm doing the little work I have for the day, trying to see if I can get the laptop that is throwing fits to stop throwing fits and fielding texts from Papa Bear saying "At Costco, getting gas.  Your mom went to return something at the warehouse.  The Prius key is in her pocket.  I'm supposed to pick her up in front of the warehouse."  Then, to my question he replied "of course she doesn't have her cell phone with her."

It's only 11:55am, people, there's a whole day left for more stories!

Celebrating

July is THE month on my birthday/anniversary calendar that is filled with names of people who are celebrating.  8 of those dates are family members, another 6 more are friends.  One of the dates has multiple names on it.  Today, is one of those days.  At the same time July is also a month with a "celebration" that took a long time to feel like a celebration.

Today is the birthday of both of my grandmothers.  How's that for coincidence?  One would be 94 today, the other is 82.  I've learned a lot from my grandmothers, though I've had 21 more years with one than the other.

I keep telling people that I'm taking after my Grandma O. as my hair color changes each time they see me and I'm pretty sure the baking gene came from her as well.  Grandma O will forever be 73 in my mind.  The last time I hugged her, she was in the middle of her 50th wedding anniversary celebration.  The next morning she was gone.  I remember thinking that morning as I heard the news that I was just getting to know my Grandma O.  I think we would have related to each other better as adults and I wish we had gotten the chance to know each other as adults.

G.G. celebrates her birthday today too.  My deep love and appreciation of music comes from G.G.  Growing up in a family where Grandma sang Bass/Tenor, Mom was a low Alto and Aunt was a Soprano, harmony was common.  Someone once asked me how I knew how to sing harmony and I honestly answered, "I just hear it".  I will give G.G. and time around the piano singing all the credit.  We've had many adventures together over the years.  She's been a good friend through the years.  I have to say, though, I find it disgusting that my 82 year old Grandmother has less grey hair than I do (hence the different colors referenced above...maybe I took after Grandma O. in that way too!)

Tonight I am grateful for two women, born on the same day, though a few years apart.  Happy Birthday Grandma's.  I love you both.

Thought for the day

If you have a Christian fish, bumper sticker or anything else on your car that symbolizes your Christian faith on the rear end of your car, then it might be a good idea to, well, I don't know, follow the rules of the road.  What, a little too much to ask to follow all of those rules?  I get it, we're human, we make mistakes.  Could we start with one simply, itty bitty rule of the road?  When changing lanes or making turns could you please, pretty please with sugar on top USE YOUR BLINKER?!

That is all.