September 28, 2004

GO Jeanne! Go Jeanne!

Whoop dee do! Jeanne came thru NC last night and today is sunny & clear! It turns out to have been a GOOD CHOICE to come down for the vacation! Son is loving the vacation time w/Grandpa & L. The food is good, the loc is good (i've never been to the Outer Banks before and I love it!)...lots of good stories so far, but no time to post - have to go hit the hot tub w/hubby while son is taking a nap! ;-)

September 24, 2004

Light Blogging...

So so sorry! I was on customer site yesterday...boo hiss...

Today, I'm home w/son, so no blogging today probably either.

And...Sunday we head to NC to see if we can tempt Hurricane Jeanne into visiting!

September 22, 2004

Son.Of.A.Bitch

Looks like Hurricane Jeanne will be in North Carolina (with us) Tuesday.

Statistically, it is not possible that we be affected by
  • Bonnie
  • Charlie
  • Frances
  • Ivan
  • Jeanne
  • Back To School Night...

    This was very interesting. We signed up hubby, myself, and my mother to be "in room parents" - which means (on a rotationg basis) we get to be in the classroom and help out once in a while! We're exited. We also got more info about the OctoberFest they have planned. I also got to speak w/the teacher and ask how son did after I left him yesterday morning. She said that within 10 minutes, he was fine. And that they went to the playground yesterday and he's a maniac on the playground (which I knew) and extremely coordinated for his age - he was doing monkey bars, jumped up on the funky tire swing w/no help, etc. Hubby also got to meet son's teacher and liked her a lot.

    The most interesting part was when the director of the preschool had her informational and Q&A session.
  • there was one question from a mother from India - she wanted to know what the school was doing to teach the children about holidays that are relevant to other religions (meaning her religion, I assume)...I thought the director's answer was FABULOUS (remember, this is a RELIGIOUS preschool - though not of my denomination which is Methodist, it is close)... she said she would be happy to have anyone who would like to focus on a holiday of a different religion to prepare a lesson plan and activities and come in and teach it. Love it! Now, I sent my son to a religion based preschool because I think it's important to learn the stories and have the background of what all this stuff is about (for example, the story of Jesus and what happened) - not necessairily to become a big church go-er, but whatever happens, happens and I'm fine with that. If I wanted him to learn the holidays important to a different religion, I'd have sent him there (for example, he also got into a preschool run by a prominent synagogue here)...
  • The Viral Menegitis problem. Parents were trying to beat her up on the actions taken to disenfect the school - she was good and handled it very well. Apparently they bleached everything (bathrooms, toys, tables, etc.). Then people were asking all sorts of questions about symptoms and when exactly they should take their kids to the doctor..etc. She must've said 15 times, call your DR. I am not a medical professional. Call your DR.

    It's funny - hubby and i both thought it went very much like a 'work' meeting where you get people asking questions just to ask, or just to make themselves sound smart, or people who don't listen, but simply wait to ask their question and usually end up asking the same question the last guy asked.
  • September 21, 2004

    Rough Morning...

    So it is a 90 minute commute this morning because
  • stupid dumbasses in the area don't get SmartTag causing huge backups at the toll booth, which extend so far, even those of us with SmartTag are stuck in it until we can get to the point where we can drive through our special lanes.
  • the State of Virginia decide to scrape the left lane of Rt. 7 and leave it that way - causing more the inbred commuters around here to drive unusually slow, as if at some point they will come across something they cannot drive over...it's very odd if you ask me, just f-ing drive, it doesn't matter if it's smooth pavement or rough pavement, it's still pavement and you can be pretty sure they didn't just put in a huge sinkhole, so please continue at a reasonable speed.

    AND son cried the whole way because he didn't want to goto preschool. Very fun for me. About half way I got hubby on the phone so he could share in the suffering - the upside is that son stopped crying while on the phone, so I got a minute or two of peace!

    THEN we arrive at the school. Son is hysterical. Has to pee - get to bathroom, find out he's soaked. He pees. I strip him and run back to his class to get the spare set of clothes (note that this leaves him no spare clothes for later)...he's still hysterical. He pees like 5 more times.

    Get back to class. He's still crying. We start to draw with markers. Crying still but not so much. I tell him I need to leave. He says bye (while still crying) and wanders over to the other kids (while still crying).

    I leave (forgetting of course my sunglasses, which i cannot go back in and get and disrupt the class). Teacher's aide hands me some papers on my way out the door.

    Some brat in the Monday class has viral menengitis, and they're just letting us know. Nice. How can some kid have that and be sent to school? Crap. Now I can worry about son getting it too - thanks lady.

    I'm having a lovely day...
  • September 20, 2004

    out of touch...

    Boy, is Theresa Kerry out of touch w/reality. Here's an article in which she says "let them go naked" about children in the Caribbean affected by Hurricanes...

    Yes, clothing is NOT as essential as water, but come on! Really?

    wow...

    That's all I have to say...hubby and I watched "The Passion of the Christ" last night. I was brought up in the Methodist church, and have watched tons of movies about Christ where it gives anywhere from his whole life story to the just the crucifiction part...never have I seen one w/the gory details in this one. Where did they get that information? I re-read the bible excerpts today and they don't give those details? What other book was used as referenced? I'm just curious - I'd like to read it as well.

    I thought I had read that Gibson was as historically accurrate as he could be - if that is true, I am shocked that men could do that to each other and the torture that Jesus endured. I couldn't even watch some of it - and watching his mother watch. The thought of having to watch someone do that to my son is sickening.

    Thoughts? It did spark good conversation between hubby and I though - as somehow he's lived his whole life without hearing the story before.

    BigBrother 5

    Anybody else watching this show?

    Yes, I'm a reality TV show junkie!

    Also - I've started watching the next season of Survivor.

    Seeing people's reactions to events fascinates me. I love seeing what different people will do...

    I want my MTV...

    ok XMRadio...they advertise this fabulous traffic service for major metropolitan areas. I think DC and Northern Va qualify ( currently ranked #2 in terms of traffic )...

    When I turn to the traffic station for my area, they IGNORE 2 of the other major inbound routes to the city from points west. There are 3 major ones: Rt. 66, Dulles Toll Road, and Rt. 7. For Rt 66, they go into detail - giving the exact speed and time to travel between exits. That is it for the broadcast. The Toll Road is just as big as 66 ( 4 lanes, each way ) and just as crowded. But you wouldn't even know it existed if you listed to them. Many times, I'll be sitting in unusually heavy traffic on the Toll Road, check the station for traffic updates...nada. Shocker.

    Rt. 7 is the other major inbound road - it is usually backed up from DC to Winchester (i believe that's 60 miles or so) and not a peep about that either.

    All I would like is a quick update (I don't need to know the exact mph or minutes it'll take from one exit to another, though it'd be nice)...is there an accident or is it just a volume delay?

    Am I asking too much?

    September 17, 2004

    Oh Ivan, part 2...

    Ivan is here...Tornados are all over our area...apparently at least 2 have gone thru Round Hill (our town), though I haven't seen them. The winds and rain are quite bad though...

    September 16, 2004

    Oh wait...

    We had someone contact the state police and inquire about my case - the person said they would look into it, but wanted to first verify with me that the rocks didn't fall off a dump truck in front of me, which is usually how cars get hit by rocks.

    I am not a MORON. I would not call the police if some rocks fell of a truck and hit me -that is an accident, not a purposfully hateful act. No, I saw the guy THROW rocks (or some other object that left marks) at my car, TWICE. No mistaking. Morons.

    No updates...

    Sorry, I don't feel well today, so there more than likely won't be any updates (especially given that it is 5:05 EST here, that doesn't leave me much time!)...

    I've been watching Ivan and waiting to go home to watch footage on the TV.
    Next up: Jeanne

    September 15, 2004

    Outrageous...

    Check this out

    Muslim-only day @ Six Flags. Please read the article - as soon as I can find it. They have days for other religions, but they don't exclude other guests. Just in this one case.

    Michelle sums it up much more eloquently than I ever could...

    Mommy!

    Girly Mama 2
    You're a girl power mommy! You love to be girly,
    but you're no pushover. Your kids are learning
    that gender differences don't have to mean
    gender inequality. You've taken back pink, and
    you don't care who knows it!


    What kind of a freaky mother are you?
    brought to you by Quizilla

    LazyTown

    This is funny - I saw the add for this show this weekend...almost threw up. Who the heck WANTS to watch this show? It looks awful.

    And then today - Lileks devotes a column to it, complete w/relevant links! It's from Iceland. And it's been a hit there for NINE years... No way would I let my kids watch it, I'd be afraid my eyes would spontaneously start bleeding...

    September 14, 2004

    Tax Dollars Well Spent.

    Mr. Virginia State Trooper says they can't do anything because they can't track his plates. I only had 4 digits (I thought it only had 4 digits because he had Maryland organizational plates, which have 2 very small letters, listed VERTICALLY, before the 4 large digits and I didn't get the 2 small letters. And we certainly can't query the database for all cars that have plates that end in those 4 digits of make FORD and of a certain model. Well, actually, I could if I had access to the server, but the cops cannot, as the software they use doesn't allow to search like that. And he is not going to take the time to even try the most popular organizational plates (like University Of MD) - and he says even then there'd be too many hits.

    Ok - this was a sports car, of a particular color. I bet there's only ONE of these cars, in this color, for the entire list of organizational plates.

    F*CK. This is a felony and he should be
    a. punished
    b. paying for repairs to my paint job

    Any suggestions out there? Here's an example of the type of plate I saw : click

    Tax Dollars Well Spent.

    Mr. Virginia State Trooper says they can't do anything because they can't track his plates. I only had 4 digits (I thought it only had 4 digits because he had Maryland organizational plates, which have 2 very small letters, listed VERTICALLY, before the 4 large digits and I didn't get the 2 small letters. And we certainly can't query the database for all cars that have plates that end in those 4 digits of make FORD and of a certain model. Well, actually, I could if I had access to the server, but the cops cannot, as the software they use doesn't allow to search like that. And he is not going to take the time to even try the most popular organizational plates (like University Of MD) - and he says even then there'd be too many hits.

    Ok - this was a sports car, of a particular color. I bet there's only ONE of these cars, in this color, for the entire list of organizational plates.

    F*CK. This is a felony and he should be
    a. punished
    b. paying for repairs to my paint job

    Any suggestions out there? Here's an example of the type of plate I saw : http://www.mva.state.md.us/VehicleServ/SpecialtyPlates/SpPlates_display.asp?sku=org&TagId=379

    A$$hole...

    Ok - I HATE people....

    I'm driving Son to school this morning. I'm in the next to most-left lane. The LEFT lane ends and those drivers have to merge. In stop and go traffic, generally what happens here is that cars "zipper" into the lane I was in, meaning, one car from the left lane goes, then one car from my lane, and we all merge nicely.

    Not so much today. I let the car to my left get in my lane in front of me and I was rolling forward when I notice the car behind that one coming over on me too - out of turn. So I honked, but let him go. The guy goes ballistic, hand gestures, etc. Slams on brakes to see if he can get me to rear end him (I was far enough back that it wasn't a possibility because I thought he might try something like that). So I change lanes one more to the right, to get away from creepy man. As I go by him, he throws something across his passenger seat onto my side door! Then he gets behind me and comes up on my right and does it AGAIN! I get his plates and car info as he's driving off (throwing things at other cars as well) and call the police.

    I'm waiting on a return call from the State Police...apparently this is a felony and since I now have marks on both sides of my car, I'm pressing charges.

    What an ass...

    September 13, 2004

    Hurricane Chatter...

    With all this serious thought about Hurricanes, this by Solonor cracked me up!

    From watching the TV this week, seems most people in Florida actually use that list!

    Ivan Update...

    Ok - since we cancelled our trip to Sarasota, Ivan has decided to visit Texas or Louisiana. Figures. I'm glad he's spared Florida though, they really need a break. Sucks to be at work this week though!

    September 11, 2004

    Saturday...

    Ok, so Hurricane Ivan is tearing it up...supposedly there won't be any Grand left in Grand Cayman by this time tomorrow. Yikes. It looks like the Sarasota area will be spared a direct hit, but having a Cat 5 Hurricane go by 50 miles to the west isn't a walk in the garden either. I hope they fare OK. We are trying to decide when we should reschedule for...the CFO of our company recommended after Hurricane season ends. Duh... it's not totally for vacation, it's so Son can spend some quality time with his Granny.

    Not much to update today...just spent the day hanging out w/Hubby & Son, then off to Winchester to go to the Golden Coral! Even though it was Shrimp Night, the place was only 1/2 full - very odd. Usually Saturday nights is a 2 hour wait. Hubby and I were wondering if it's because it's 9/11? Maybe. My Mom's hair salon was also empty all day, which is unusual for a Saturday.

    Not much else to report from here...Over and out.

    September 10, 2004

    Trip...

    Oh well...we cancelled our trip. So we'll be here this weekend, oh fun and joy. The upside is I get to take son to the Open House his preschool is having today and he won't miss the first week of school - that's always a bonus!

    Sorry about being heavy on the "what is VHMPrincess doing" lately, but it is all about me isn't it? ;-)

    Please think safe thoughts, yet again, for hubby's Mom and Kat who are down there in Florida.

    September 09, 2004

    Crap...





    Seems to me that Ivan is making a bee-line for us! Just like Hurricane Mitch bee-lined for us even though we were on a cruise ship for Pete's sake....

    Let's Recap our history with Hurricanes.
    Nov 1998 - Hurricane Mitch almost sinks our cruise ship on our Honeymoon. Hubby seasick for 29 hours straight. Passengers rush the captain's deck and demand Coast Guard be called. Cruise ship reaches Bahamas, turned away because port closed and has to re-go thru Hurricane Mitch to get back to Florida.

    August 2004 - Hurricane Bonnie goes thru Mrytle Beach
    - Hurricane Charlie causes evacuation of Myrtle Beach
    September 2004 - Hurricane Frances causes Delta to offer us a chance to re-book our flights for free. Then all aiports shut down.
    - Hurricane Ivan bee-lining for Tampa (just North of Sarasota)...

    Reader poll...

    do we goto Sarasota (which is just south east of Tampa) or not? We fly tomorrow, but don't want to be there when category 5 "ivan" comes thru! What are your guesses as to the path it'll take? Should we go?

    September 08, 2004

    Oh Ivan!





    Really? Did the storm have to turn right to the west coast of FL? We will be staying in Sarasota, which is near Tampa. That is, if we go. How can these hurricanes be chasing us like this?

    I'll keep you updated...soon

    September 07, 2004

    Can you pee standing up?

    Ok - we are into the "try going to stores" and see if son will remember to tell us he needs to go potty stage. Dinner @ Cracker Barrel Friday night was a success - he used the potty in the ladies room - I, however, screwed it up. Usually, we take his pants all the way off so he can "see" what he's doing. Can't do that in a dirty bathroom with our shoes on. Hmm. So I sit son down (after wiping the seat very well) and he proceeds to pee into his underpants and shorts still down around his ankles. Totally my fault. Crap. Now have to change son even though he did his part.

    Monday - at another restaurant. Thought I'd be smart and send son in with hubby, so they can practice together. Both emerge from the restroom looking triumphant. What? How can that be? Come to learn the seat was too gross for hubby to consider setting son's precious behind on...so he stood him on it and let him pee standing up! What an ingenious idea! Why didn't I think of that? Darn, he's good! Problem solved!

    Oh yeah!

    check this out! ClICK

    We don't have NetFlix, but if they join w/TIVO, we would seriously consider it!

    Speaking of TIVO, I've got most of this season's Nip/Tuck on ours and I've been watching this weekend. What a great show! I love it! The characters are great and the writing is so "smart" where they're delivering great lines all the time. (Ok, my review writing skills are not up to par, I know)... check it out! Hubby and I were shocked that FX can show some of those steamy scenes though (ala Kimber & Sean)...

    Working Out...

    Ok, I was bad over the weekend, but today starts it in earnest...My brother's wedding is in 1 month and I need a dress. I refuse to buy something huge, so here goes...

    Breakfast - water
    diet coke
    1 snack pack lemon cookies

    I WILL make it to the gym today too! Gym bag is all packed and in the car. Last night I did manage to do my pushups, dips, and situps!

    UGH!

    Because nothing is ever easy for us...

    We have sent 6 emails and left 3 phone messages for the Deck Builder to get our hot tub ordered (I know, poor us)... Hubby finally lost it on the phone with them today, when the lady said the guy wasn't in after saying he was. Then telling hubby they were waiting on a more important call, and would get back to us later when that call was done. Come on people, this isn't brain surgery. Just take our order and be done with it already.

    Yikes!

    Ok...we moved our plans because of Hurricane Frances...now Ivan??? It's just not fair!

    On the upside, we just got a refund from our Mrytle Beach rental since we were evacuated from Hurricane Charlie and Bonnie.

    September 04, 2004

    Diet Lasts 2 hours...

    Ok - shame on me...dinner was 3 beers and fettucini alfredo w/shrimp. Then a piece of cake...UGH!...someone please yell at me...

    I WILL exercise tomorrow, I promise (if I can get out of bed ;-)

    Workout Update...

    Ok...oink oink...I've been not working out and eating way too much lately - to the addition of 3 new pounds, on top of the 5 I didn't want anyway...So I'm going to be holding myself accountable to you guys...everything I eat and do will be logged here, hopefully this will motivate me to workout so I can enter it and not eat stuff so I don't have to write about it!

    Food Log for Saturday:
    - 2 slices turkey bacon
    - 1 chocolate donut
    - 1/4 glass OJ
    - 1 can diet coke
    - 1 and 1/2 pacs Easy Mac
    - 1/2 cup ice cream

    Update on Trip...

    We rescheduled our trip Thursday night... Then yesterday Delta cancelled our flights anyway. So we are safe and sound...but please send safe thoughts to Florida for all the people still there, including hubby's Mom and Kat...

    So now we're leaving this Friday to go down there... Can't wait - hopefully there's still something down there to visit.

    Potty Training Update: we put son in underwear last Saturday and threw out the diapers. He had NO accidents Sunday. Two Monday. Two Tuesday...AND NONE SINCE! Isn't he fabulous! Hubby and I are stunned! (and quite happy to be done with diapers!) He doesn't even wear them for naps! Only at night...

    September 03, 2004

    i'm a traveling man...

    Ok, traveling chick...my support of our sales team had me doing 2 demos in
    Richmond today. While at lunch, I overheard some workers talking about the
    flooding from Hurricane Gaston. Hold on, this part sucks...

    Apparently Richmond recently built some retaining walls in the Shocko Bottom
    section of Richmond to keep the river in check so it didn't overflow it's
    banks into the business there. Good idea. BUT, with Hurricane Gaston, it
    rained so much so fast, the retaining walls actually kept all the rain that
    fell in that area from draining into the river and away from the businesses.
    Doesn't that suck? Wait, it gets better.

    Now, the insurance companies won't pay the claims. Their reason is
    this...the flooding was not caused by Mother Nature or by a leak on
    the properties...so it is not covered! Yikes!

    As a side note, blogging will be light tomorrow as well, since I am
    traveling with our East Coast Sales Dude to Pittsburg, PA. Oh. goodie.

    September 01, 2004

    Test

    test

    Traveling Man...

    Ok, traveling chick...my support of our sales team had me doing 2 demos in Richmond today. While at lunch, I overheard some workers talking about the flooding from Hurricane Gaston. Hold on, this part sucks...

    Apparently Richmond recently built some retaining walls in the Shocko Bottom section of Richmond to keep the river in check so it didn't overflow it's banks into the business there. Good idea. BUT, with Hurricane Gaston, it rained so much so fast, the retaining walls actually kept all the rain that fell in that area from draining into the river and away from the businesses. Doesn't that suck? Wait, it gets better.

    Now, the insurance companies won't pay the claims. Their reason is this...the flooding was not caused by Mother Nature or by a leak on the properties...so it is not covered! Yikes!

    As a side note, blogging will be light tomorrow as well, since I am traveling with our East Coast Sales Dude to Pittsburg, PA. Oh. goodie.