A new trend? First in the final at the World Cup team member to team member. I guess it worked so well then, that it was only natural for it to happen in horse racing: Jockey to horse.
What's next ?
posted by Karen @ 9:56 AM
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Sue was determined we were going to find dates. She came up with the ABC’s of dating. I kid you not. A for ads, B for blind dates, C for chat rooms, D for dating friends of friends, E for eating with singles, F for five minute dates. I finally said – G for Give me a break! I had no intention of being a part of this ridiculous plan of hers anymore.
“Come on, Terry, just once more” she begged. “It is going to be G for great. I have invited several of our old friends for a Get together.’
Although I was determined to ignore her pleas, I finally relented and agreed to join her get together planned for the following Sunday afternoon. It was to be a picnic at a local park. For all of her lamebrain ideas, it seemed fairly innocuous. And, it might actually be fun to see some old friends.
After that I forgot about it. Work’s consumed me lately. I work for a large consulting firm in Organizational and Personnel Development. My clients were usually medium to large companies, with specific personnel needs. There might be a morale problem, a leadership problem, the need to downsize, or to restructure. I have plenty of work these days as it seems like everyone is trying to right size.
This particular week I had a major proposal to complete by Monday for the Marauder Company. They had recently taken over another company and it was my job to advise which staff to retain and in what organizational structure. It was a large account for our firm, and I was thrilled to be given the assignment. But to get the report done, meant I had to spend my evenings in the office, and it looked like the weekend would be lost as well.
As I got to the park, I was surprised to see a large crowd gathering at the picnic area. She seems to have outdone herself this time. Parking, I wandered over towards the group, enjoying the feel of the sunshine on my face as I looked over to see if I recognized a few faces. Suddenly I stopped in horror.
It looked like she had invited all of my ex-boyfriends, dates, and one night stands, all in one place all at one time. Just as I was about to turn and run, Sue grabbed my arm and pulled me over to say hello to Stan, my first “steady” from kindergarten.
“Terry, you remember Tom. Don’t you?” Tom had been one of those rare moments when Sue and I had actually dated the same person and at the same time. We didn’t realize it until we bumped into him at an art exhibit.
I had dated Darren two years ago. We had gone out for about 4 dates when I sent him a text saying that I was leaving town for a family emergency and I would contact him when I could. Of course, I never contacted him again. How could I go over now and get a drink? Was there anyway for me to become invisible?
As if it wasn’t bad enough already, there is Steve Broccoli. His last name isn’t really Broccoli but that was where I met him, at the vegetable stand. It helped distinguish him from Steve Bus, who I met on the bus. I was dating both of them at the same time. It had been years since I had contrived some story not see him again.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, I turned around and came face to face with Stu, the man who had texted me saying his mother was ill and he had to leave town … last week.
“Hello, how are you. What have you been up to?” I said with the smile still plastered on my face.
Sue gave Stu a big hug, grinned at me and said, “Isn’t this the most fun?”
posted by Karen @ 11:05 AM
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Just this last weekend I went to see the production of Exonerated at Riverside Studios. I thought it was a very powerful production until discussion with others who had also attended the show. They too, felt it was quite good - but apparently it did not speak to them about the difficulty of applying the death penalty. It did not change minds, it did not even seem to cause them to question.
How can you be moved by the execution of an innocent man, the loss of many years on deathrow by 6 others who were later proved innocent, and not even question the use of the death penalty. I guess it is like so much else, the show was speaking to those who already agreed with it.
That same day, the London Times had an article that a Chinese city was going to begin using the death penalty against purse snatchers.
The following day was a story about beginning to give bonuses to Prosecutors who win their cases - pay for performance. This is not the same as paying prosecutors for getting it right.
Where is the logic?
posted by Karen @ 9:59 AM
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Saturday, 5 AM. The phone was ringing. The Blackberry was vibrating on the bed side table. Grabbing for the phone with one hand, reaching for the Blackberry with the other, I cleared my throat before talking.
“Damn. Have any systems been affected?” I asked as I sat up.
“We think we are seeing some problems on the unit in
“OK, thanks
Hanging up the phone, I was resigned that my day’s plan, couch shopping, was on hold again. For nearly two years, I had been looking for a new couch. If the cushions were right, the arms or the legs were wrong, or the price was unreasonable. Finding the right couch was a never ending tale of unsuccessful shopping trips too often delayed by my job.
I was the CIO of a national production company. In the business world that made me the Chief Information Officer, but it could also mean your Career Is Over. The job required constant immersion into the latest crises, the latest planning session or the latest meeting. Every system and every system problem was my responsibility, seven days a week, twenty four hours a day and an easy target on my back.
My home, like most of my neighbors, was fenced-in in the backyard with a pool, a garage in front with an entrance from the garage directly into the house. Fences in the back and gardeners in the front mean most of the neighbors could go for years without seeing each other. So although I lived there for twelve years, I didn’t know any of my neighbors. Still as I gazed out my back window, I wondered if any of them were up waiting to start an early Saturday morning conference call.
Getting situated at my desk, I dialed into the first call. As the calls droned on, I mindlessly alternated playing FreeCell and Hearts. First call done, second call complete, third call over, fourth call scheduled. Waiting, I wandered over to the on line dating service, www.YouAndITogether.com.
Judy talked me into signing up for this online dating service. After ten years of marriage, and two children, Judy’s husband walked out declaring he was not ready to settle down. A woman of action, Judy set about with single-minded determination to tackle her current status and reverse the situation. Often she pulled me along as her co-conspirator.
Maybe it was the wine, or the realization that another New Years Eve had passed with out a date, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. And, although I enjoyed my single life style, it was always nice to have a date on Saturday night. We had so much fun filling out our profiles and coming up with our tag lines. Judy’s tag line is ‘Ready to share that remote?” and mine is “Looking for Mr. Good Date”. Since then, I hadn’t been back to the dating service site.
Noting the next call was due in ten minutes, I entered my username and password and to my surprise I had forty six responses to my ad. I giggled as I browsed through the mail. Many were from out of towners, even some from out of the country. It seemed a lot of work for a date, traveling to some foreign country. There was even a married man looking for an afternoon girlfriend. I just deleted that one, figuring it didn’t require a polite answer.
As I got down to the
Good news. The infected systems were identified and isolated. All on line servers were current with the latest security patches. There were still some remaining remote sites that needed to be patched but they had been identified. A plan was put into effect to handle the lap tops as the users logged onto the network. At this rate, our monitoring would be complete with a few more calls and we would be finished by early afternoon. It looked like that couch shopping trip would be possible after all.
Ding rings from my computer. Lo and behold, there is an online note to me. It was from “On the Beach”, sender of one of the emails I received. I flashed over to his profile, and read what he wrote. Umm, interesting. We certainly were a good match on our love of travel and exotic places. What a nice description for his perfect date – a late afternoon walk through tropical gardens, followed by wine at the beach while watching the sunset, and a dinner picnic. And even more perfect, a second date. Very nice!
Oops, the call, no time for this right now.
“Okay everyone, sounds like we are making excellent progress. Let’s schedule a follow up call for one hour from now. If the current status remains the same, we can release the field network staff, but we will still need the help desk, corporate networks and management teams. Dan, anything you want to add?”
”Thanks Martha., just that I would like the network staff to remain on the line.” Dan said as we completed the current call.
Turning back to Mr. On the Beach, I wrote. “Hey there. Looks like you have done a lot of traveling.”
Ding “Looks like you’ve traveled also. Where was that picture taken?”
“
Ding “Galapagos. I just got back a few weeks ago from a two week vacation. It was wonderful. Never have been to
Chatting back and forth for the next hour, we discovered that we lived near each other; both were employed in Information Technology, and both were on conference calls dealing with the virus. We decided to meet at
Coffee became the prelude to a dinner date, and closely following that, the perfect date – that walk in the garden, a bottle of wine, sunset on the beach, and a lovely picnic dinner. And even better, a follow up date was planned, and then another, and another.
“This is certainly the shock and awe of the year,” Judy teased as she listened to me describe our dates. “As I said, never say never.”
“It’s been barely two months since I began seeing him, but it’s like he is a part of my life now, part of my everyday. God, I sound like a ditzy teenager.”
Judy just laughed with that annoying ‘I told you so look in her eyes.’ Actually I think she was as amazed as I was. Since my divorce and a disastrous rebound relationship, I haven’t been seriously involved with anyone. That was nearly twenty years ago. Judy, in her analytical way, explained that I only selected men to date that were safe, relationships that couldn’t get too close.
“Still,” Judy said “you have exhibited nesting signs lately, even before we began our on line experiment. Just look at the way you have thrown yourself into fixing up your home. You’ve been downright domestic with the time and energy you have put into color coordinating your bathrooms. A real Martha Stewart act, without the jail time of course.”
She could be right. Possibly it was a delayed reaction to 9-11, or my way of dealing with my 23 year old daughter moving out of home and town this last year. It wasn’t that I didn’t like nice things in the house, but I never seemed to have that gene that made decorating fun.
Just then the phone rang. Judy kept herself busy reviewing my design book for the house. As I hung up the phone, she looked at my quizzically.
“Hey, what was that? You got this monotone sound to your voice.”
“That was Doug,” I replied as if that answered her question.
“And???” she asked.
“He was offered a job promotion.” I responded as Judy looked at me. “In London,” I added.
The first bathroom was complete and the construction on the second bathroom had started. To cheer me up, I upgraded the bathtub to a larger soaker model with jets for Jacuzzi and air bubbles. At least this bathroom could be my get away from it all, ultimate relaxation and self pampering room.
Following another unsuccessful couch shopping event, I met Doug for a walk on the beach, and a glass of wine. Both of us were very good at talking around his move, but not discussing what it would mean to us. Knowing our time was limited, we decided to take a weekend together to the New Orleans jazz festival.
Roaming the streets of New Orleans, we indulged our senses with every form of live jazz, bathing in flavors of Cajun cooking and dancing to the Creole tempo through the French Quarter. Toe tapping to the beats and sounds of New
Maybe it was the romantic setting, the after effects of wine and oysters, or the reality that we were about to be forced to go our separate ways. Whatever the cause, three months after we met, Doug proposed to me.
Panic overwhelms me. “Breath Martha, take ten slow breaths,” I tell myself. It is just two little words to say, “I do.” I do what? I do take this man to be my husband? I do commit to change my life 180 degrees, move away from everything and everyone I know, leave my career just as I get to the top, sell my home so that I have no where to run back to, and then, I do move out of the country? My breathing becomes labored.
Do I really know this man? This is crazy. I have known him for less than 5 months, less time than it has taken to redo my bathrooms. I breathe slowly, look at him, and say “I do”.
The moving boxes are now gone, our weekends are booked hopping cheap flights to Anywhere’s-Europe, and we’ve yet to deplete our kitchen wine rack. Quite wonderful? Absolutely.
posted by Karen @ 10:27 AM
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Mary rolled to her side, staring at the treadmill sitting in her bedroom. She really needed to do something about those additional ten pounds she gained this year. There just seemed so little time to exercise, what between work and family, she had little opportunity for anything else.
The treadmill was an anniversary gift from her husband. Certainly not the most romantic gift he could have given her. It was their twentieth anniversary and she had hoped for something more personal, a bracelet or maybe a romantic trip away. She assumed he was thinking of her health.
John, her husband, never seemed to have time for romance these days, or for that matter, time for her. This new company he worked for seemed to require more overnight trips and several weekend trips as well. It left her alone to handle Rose, their rebellious fifteen-year old.
At least today Rose was not stomping around adding to the overall darkness of the weather. It was amazing how Rose could fill the room with tension and anger. Rose loved to bait her mother, particularly when her father was not around. With little effort, she could have her mother screaming like a mad woman. Once Rose succeeded, she would slam away into her own room, or out the door, leaving Mary to seethe alone.
Carefully averting her eyes away from the treadmill, Mary gets out of bed. With both John and Rose gone for the weekend she will be enjoying some quiet time for herself. No one will be asking or demanding her time. Drinking her morning coffee and eating a cinnamon sweet roll, she wonders how best to use her day. Moving into the den, she puts on her recorded soap operas, and then sits down at the desk to quickly check her email.
The browser displays an advertisement for Online Chat – friends who will always be there with you. There was a time when she felt surrounded by friends. That seems a long time ago. She had lots of friends before her marriage, and many before motherhood, and during Rose's early years. Since moving to Kansas, she has felt isolated.
Even at work she has seen most of her friends leave as the department shrinks down to meet the smaller budget. More workers are now part time these days, meaning more work for her, and less time for socializing. She has not had a lunch partner since Jean was let go two years ago.
With a click she selects the site.
Online Chat – The Meeting place for New Friendships.
Join the online community of friendships, information, and learning. Get all member benefits, including your own blog, access to other members’ blogs, chat rooms, and member profiles with a cost structure to fit your lifestyle.
What an interesting idea, an online community of friends.
Deciding she might just take a look around, Mary joins the site. There are several types of membership. Mary decides to join as a ‘pay as you go’ member since she plans to be on just long enough to see what it is. Pondering over her user name for twenty minutes, she is quite proud to come up with Lamb-at-Heart; a twist from Mary had a little lamb. She then turns to create her on line user profile.
Not one to lie, but not averse to fudging, she knocks off five years from her age, and 15 pounds from her weight. As she sees it, this is her chance to start with a clean slate, a fresh start without preconceived ideas about her. It will be a chance for people to get to know her, not pigeonhole her as that fat old woman.
She skips the more personal information and doesn’t upload a picture. She can always come back later if she decides to stay on. For now, she has enough information in to get started. With the soap operas playing in the background, Mary enters into the member portion of the website.
Taking the online tour offered by the service, Mary is impressed with the number and variety of options. There are member blogs to follow and offer comments, a bulletin board to post questions, items for sale, general information and ways to communicate directly with other online members.
Quite a lot of interesting discussion groups to choose from. There are groups to improve your health, your body and your mind. There is a weight lose support group; a discussion group on the merits of Bush Supreme Court Nominee, and even a group for parents with troubled teenagers. Or you can choose a political book group, an opera discussion group, a group to discuss Judea-Muslim issues; a group for alternative lifestyles, or a group called – New Friends.
Mary decides to check out the New Friends group. As she enters the chat room, she is hailed and welcomed. It really does feel nice. The group is discussing feelings of alienation, lack of contact. Mary listens for a while, and then pipes in.
‘It is so easy to feel alone, that you are different. Thank you for showing me I am not alone, but part of a community that is out there.’
Lots of nods and agreements come in from the group.
Mary feels more confident, and starts to be part of the discussion. It seems so many feel the same way, left out, too busy to reach out, and not appreciated by those closest to you. Mary receives an aside note from one of the group Jack-o-Lantern.
‘Lamb-at-heart, you are expressing my thoughts. I feel no one in my house understands, or even wants to take the time to see that I am hurting. Thanks for the confirmation that my feelings are not in my head.’
‘Yes’, Mary types, ‘those around us often discount how we feel so they don’t have to deal with us or with our feelings.’
This begins several back and forth comments between Lamb-at-heart and Jack-o-Lantern. After an hour or so, Jack-o-Lantern asks Mary to join him in a private chat room so they can continue their discussion. Mary, being a novice, has no idea how to enter a private room, so Jack-o guides her to the Lantern on the Lamb room. Mary is able to be online without interruptions since her family is gone, but Jack-o has to jump on and off during the weekend.
‘No problem,’ Mary types, ‘I can wait. My time is open this weekend.’
Jack-o clearly appreciates this. ‘Thank you so much Lamb’, he has shortened her name. ‘You’re helping me to understand so much. I will come back as long as you stay in the chat room.’
While waiting in their private chat room, Mary gets another aside, this time from Tom Thumb. Before long, Mary has entered another private chat room with Tom. It turns out that Tom’s wife had left him the week before, and he needs a shoulder to cry on. Mary, the Lamb, speaks encouragingly to Tom Thumb, assuring him life is not over for him.
During the next few hours, Mary continues in her discussions with the group as new members come in and out of the room. As her confidence grows, she sends her own aside to Mr. Big.
‘Hey there, Mr. Big. Are you a fan of Sex and the City?’
Mr. Big has a good sense of humour, and the two of them have a wonderful back and forth, deciding to enter their own private chat room.
Hours later, Mary is still in the discussion group, as well as carrying on the three private chats. She is having so much fun, she hasn’t even noticed that the recorded soap operas have completed. Except for a few food and bathroom breaks, Mary has sat at the computer all day and into the evening.
When Mr. Big says good night, she first looks at the clock and realizes that she has been there over twelve hours. With a sense of satisfaction and happiness that she has made so many new friends, she too signs off for the night. Smiling, she finishes a piece of chocolate cake that she finds in the refrigerator, and climbs into bed.
Next morning, she logs back into the computer, first checking into the private chat rooms. Finding no one has checked in yet, she leaves notes for her new found friends.
'To my new friend, Stopped by to see u to let u know you were in my thoughts. Your friend, Lamb
- no longer a stranger in a strange land. :>
She felt very 21st century, adding the little smiley symbol at the end. Mr. Big had taught her how to do that. She also learned how to type the letter u for you, btw for by the way, and LOL for laugh out loud. The latter, laughing out loud, was definitely useful last night.
Mary then logs into the New Friends discussion group and finds that she is welcomed warmly back by several of her friends from last night and a few new ones. The day is filled with interesting discussions and wonderful times in her private chat rooms with her new friends. Jack-o even sends her a poem.
To my Lamb, my soul mate, my muse
Your compatriot, your friend Jack-o
Once just strangers meeting on line
Two lost souls looking for salvation
Not knowing what they would find
Lost, not knowing they were missing
Entering their safe space to meet
Withering buds beginning to flower
Nurturing souls learning to live
Finding a new friend filling a void
Mary continues on line during the day. Ordering a large pizza with everything on it, and bread rolls to be delivered for lunch, she eats while typing and listening to her friends. The weekend had been such a success. She is proud of herself for stepping out and trying something new.
The phone rings. Mary looks up and sees it is already 6 PM, as she picks up the receiver.
“Hello.”
“Mary,” she hears John say, “Is Rose at home yet?”
“No, she is to be dropped off around 8 PM tonight. Remember she went out with Susie and her family to their cabin. Is something up?”
“I would say so. I got a call from the credit card company and she must have gotten our number and is using the card.”
“Oh John, that can’t be true. I know Rose has been a handful lately, but she has never stolen from us.”
“So you think! She has run up a $350 dollar bill on some internet site during the last two days.”
posted by Karen @ 8:03 PM
1 comments
The more you blog, the better it feels
The easier it is to blog
And the more you want to blog.
I came, I saw, I blogged
Paris is burning, New Orleans is drowning
Miami is blowing in the wind.
The Prince is eating organic food in California
and the Governator is bumping clumsily along
Republicans are flouting the law
Exposing spies, only they are our own
George Bush is struggling
The Supreme Court is turning right
They are busted, but still turning
bloggin in the wind
posted by Karen @ 11:11 AM
1 comments
We could not hear your screams in the dark.
We could not see your fear, or sense your anger.
Our eyes were focused elsewhere
Our minds were numbed
While New Orleans mourned through the night.
posted by Karen @ 9:20 AM
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