Friday, May 26, 2006

A Blast From the Past

Earlier this week, I was IM'ed by someone I hadn't seen in years (I won't name names, out of courtesy, but you know who you are). We rode the same bus to school and I graduated a year ahead of her. She had found me via Yahoo 360 (hey, it works!) and dropped an IM just to say "Hi". Talk about a blast from the past! It was a brief conversation, but a good one.

Funny thing is, though, I had never given much of a second thought to anyone from back then; high school did little for me other than provide fodder to share with my therapist (just kidding - no therapist). I was, by and large, considered the school geek, and yeah - it bothered me like crazy at the time - but now I like to think I've gotten past all that.

I did go to my 10yr reunion (lesee - holy cow! - that was almost 11 years ago!), mostly on a lark, just to see what everyone was up to. It was fun showing up wearing sandals and a ponytail (if you knew me back from the mid 80's, you'd know that something like that would be a major non sequitur for me). All in all, it wasn't a horrible time there (though the LCS reunions are notoriously lame), and it did confirm that people do [finally] mature if you give them enough time - myself included. I have not heard from anyone in my class since then nor have I even been back for a reunion, but that's ok. Everyone has their own lives, and I have learned to not care so much about what other people think - I think everyone has their own insecurities or issues at some level or other, and it probably drives some to rag on others to hide their own.

BTW - I ditched that whole ponytail thing a few months later. It really wasn't my thing (nor was that nasty "bowl cut" I used to sport back in school, but that's another story).

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Soapbox Moment #1: Miami Tops Auto Club List for Rude Drivers (Surprise - It's Not Boston!)

Check this out: Miami Tops Auto Club List for Rude Drivers

I'm surprised that Boston is merely number 5 on this list. Boston drivers (well, Massachusetts drivers in general) have got to be the most obnoxious and self-centered drivers around! I mean, would it kill a person to actually use their signal lights? If someone actually does signal to turn, it's usually just as they begin to turn (gee, thanks for letting people know!) And, Heaven forbid that you should have to pull out onto a street or anything. Good luck in getting someone to let you out! (Is that extra few seconds you might have to wait in order to let someone out gonna mess up your whole day?)

No, I did not get my initial driver's licence in MA - I got it in NY (state, not city), where they actually teach you about driving courteously and (get this!) what right-of-way means!

It's going to be loads of fun when my oldest learns to drive - I can't wait to find out what all the differences are between when I learned to drive and now (no cracks about 'horseless carriages', please!) :-)

I could rant mindless about any number of other kinds of driving 'weirdness' out here, but I think I'll save that for another time.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Mr. Mom & Joke du jour

Patti's a little under the weather today, so I'm at home doing the Mr. Mom thing so that she can rest. BTW - we homeschool our three kids: MJ, age 13; Bethanie, age 11; and Thomas, age 9.

All in all, a relatively uneventful day thus far. But in the spirit of kids and dealing with them today, here is a joke I saw in email that seems appropriate.

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honor thy father and thy mother," she asked "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"

Without missing a beat one little boy answered,

"Thou shall not kill."

Yeah, maybe it's old, but you gotta love the classics

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Not much today, just new pics

I uploaded pics of my recent crochet projects - haven't crocheted in years, but just started up again in the past couple of months. Already have afghans made for the kids, plus coordinating pillows. Currently working on an afghan for Patti that will go well in the living room.

I am also currently in the second week of the 4-week Wilton cake decorating class (course 1). I've been wanting to for a long time, and so for my birthday Patti gave me a Michael's gift card which had enough to get signed up for all 3 courses, plus some supplies. I'm a very happy camper indeed.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

A blog about nothing?

Ok - so I'm no Jerry Seinfeld (just as well), but what the heck. I'd thought I'd get the ball rolling one way or another.

Mostly just put together my blogroll - the list of websites I'd like to share with others. What's missing thus far is a link to Jay Severin's website (because he doesn't have one yet, from what I can tell). I too, am best described as a "radical independent". I agree with most of what Jay says on his radio show, but not always 100% (some of his ideas are a little extreme). But I did add a link to Laura Ingraham's official website - another person whose ideas align fairly close to my own.

And all the the usual suspects are there as well - various websites I like and frequent. More on some of those another time.