People Suck

My week at a continuing education seminar last week reminded me of something I sometimes forget...I don't like people.

Oh, I like individual persons just fine, but people as a whole, not so much. People en mass are rude and obnoxious and annoying. You know what I'm talking about.

For example, there is the diagonal street crosser. You're driving around the parking lot, looking for an empty spot, and you have to wait for someone to cross the street. But do they go straight across quickly, allowing you to pass in the least possible amount of time? Oh no, they cross in a long diagonal, taking as much space and time as humanly possible. Who cares about anyone else's time...it's all about them, isn't it?

Another example is the crowd pusher. You know the one. You're all standing around, waiting for the conference room to open so you can go in and get a seat...hundreds of you, waiting for the same thing. Or maybe there are fifty people waiting to board a plane. Whatever. Then along comes the crowd pusher...the person who insists on pushing their way to the front of the crowd, as if they alone are waiting, and their mere presence will get things rolling. The rest of the crowd is apparently standing around because they have nothing better to do, but the crowd pusher, they are busy. They need to get the show on the road. To hell with everyone else.

There are also the talker/knuckle cracker/nail clipper/disgusting nasal sound/cell phone answerers. These are the folks who make themselves heard during a formal presentation. Someone poor schlep is standing before a group of people, presenting information that may be valuable to those listening, when a group of talkers burst out in barely quieted conversation. We are not talking whispers here, we are talking normal speaking voices.

Or, as an alternative, they sit and crack their knuckles repeatedly, or take the opportunity to clip their fingernails. It always seems to go on forever, leaving me wondering exactly what kind of mutant is sitting in the audience. How many digits does this freak show actually have, because I have counted up to 37 clips already?

Or perhaps they decide to answer their loudly ringing cell phone with a full and boisterous "Hello? Oh, nothing...what are you doing?"

Or maybe they have that annoying and grotesque personal habit of clearing their phlegm filled throat or snorting their nasal mucus every 45 seconds. I try so hard to ignore it, because on some level, I know they cannot help it, but it's like trying to fall asleep when something is dripping or a dog is barking. You hope you won't hear the sound again, but you find you whole body is tensed up waiting for it...you can't focus on anything else, and just as you start to relax, and believe it is over, there is that sound again.

Not to be left out, there is Mr. Boob Gawker. Ladies, you are familiar with this man. This is the older man standing next to you in the crowd, sometimes with his wife standing right next to him, who cannot stop staring at your boobs. And what is a person supposed to do about this, I ask you? Do you stare him down? It won't matter! He will never notice, because he isn't looking at your face to see that you are staring him down in the first place.

So you see what I mean. Persons are fine, but people...people are horrible, inconsiderate assholes! It makes me want to hole up in my house and never venture out again. People suck!

Where Will It End?

I keep asking myself this question.

As you may remember, a year ago, CO and I were considering relocating to the Midwest, but with the real estate market being what it is, we were afraid to take the chance...afraid we wouldn't be able to sell our current residence.

A year later, there seems to be no end to the drop in housing prices, making me grateful we made the choice we did, but terrified that we will be working under the burden of an upside down mortgage for many, many years to come.

At least we have jobs...for now. CO and I attended an Independence Day party back in July, and of the six couples there, we were the only pair that were not either currently unemployed, recently unemployed or excepting to become unemployed at any moment. We left feeling grateful, but nervous. My parents are both still unemployed...my mother since October of 2007 and my father since February of 2008. And now I read that massive post-Labor Day job cuts are anticipated across the country.

I am on the board of a local charitable organization that provides relief, in the form of respite care and counseling, to the at home caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. Since the organization is primarily state funded, they are receiving no money until the state passes its fiscal year budget, which is way past due, and some speculate it may not be passed until after the November elections. As a result, most of the organizations employees will be laid off, and all programs will be suspended until something changes.

On my daily news clips report from a professional organization I am involved with, I see that in addition to the aforementioned post-Labor Day job cuts, unemployment in a nearby county is at its higest rate in 13 years; Southwest Airlines, like all those before it, are cutting at least 6% of their flights and raising prices due to high fuel costs and poor economic performance; the Federal Reserve is planning to raise interest rates; two more banks are waving the white flag, while the rest face new credit hurdles; and that cities across the nation are running out of money.

Everywhere I look people are losing their jobs, their homes, their businesses.

There is no good news anywhere, it seems.

I am left wondering, how much further is rock bottom? Are we close, or can we not even see it yet? Where will it end?

Freaky Blog Ghosts and More Work Trips

Okay. Seriously. I am a little freaked out right now.

The post below this one...the one of my granddaughter singing Happy Birthday...I didn't post it.

I DID NOT POST IT!

I tried to post that post like the day after my birthday...July 21st, but I kept getting an error message, so I gave up. Now today it mysteriously shows up. Three weeks later. Out of the blue.

Do do do do. Do do do do.

That is supposed to be the Twilight Zone theme by the way.

Now that I'm thoroughly freaked by the ghosts that have possessed my blog, I am kind of happy to announce I will be out of town for work for the next week.

I shudder to think what I will have posted when I return.

Duhn duhn duhn.

That is supposed to be a suspenseful mystery beat a' la Law and Order or CSI. I don't know where I heard it, I just always associate it with mystery.

Okay, so maybe sound effects don't translate. Whatever! Jeez! Hopefully the ghosts can do a better job while I'm away.

The post is coming from inside the blog. Get out now!

See you on the other side, peeps.

Happy Birthday to Comma

Here is my song.

Of course, she is so interested in seeing herself on the video, she can hardly concentrate, but you'll get the jist of it!

Hoo Ha ha ha ha ha!

We are sitting in the hospital cafeteria the other night. Waiting. Then waiting some more. My son, Orin, looks up at a man passing by and says, "There is our doctor. Doctor Hoo Ha."

I stare, disbelieving and ask, "What is his name?"

"Doctor Hoo Ha."

"Doctor Hoo Ha?" I ask, and he nods his head. "Let me get this straight. Doctor Hoo Ha is your OBGyn?" Again he nods, and I burst out laughing.

The jokes just write themselves.

I could never have an OBGyn named Doctor Hoo Ha. I couldn't possibly stop laughing long enough to allow him to do his examination. I just couldn't.

Turns out, the good doctor's name is spelled Guhua, but is pronounced Hoo Ha. Even so, the man was clearly destined to be an OBGyn. It is just beautiful in it's symmetry. Just freakin' beautiful!

A Grand Entrance

Our grandson arrived this morning at 7:07 am, weighing in at 8 pounds 3 ounces. After an emergency C-Section, mom and baby are resting comfortably.

He kept his mother contracting from Saturday night through Tuesday morning, then refused to come out. Stubborn and feisty...his father's son.

Other than having their days and nights mixed up now, grandma and grandpa are thrilled!

You Want Some Cheese With That Whine?

That sour grapes whine you're drinking?

Sounds like sour grapes to me, anyway. Here is the article:

Spitz, once the star, upset over Beijing snub
by Polly Hui

US swim legend Mark Spitz won't be on hand in Beijing if Michael Phelps breaks his record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics—because, he says, no one bothered to invite him.

Spitz said the International Olympic Committee, a US television network or FINA—the international body that governs world swimming—should have brought him to the Games this year, with Phelps making a go at his record.

"I never got invited. You don't go to the Olympics just to say, I am going to go. Especially because of who I am," Spitz told AFP in Hong Kong.

"I am going to sit there and watch Michael Phelps break my record
anonymously? That's almost demeaning to me. It is not almost—it is."

Spitz became one of the most famous athletes in the world at the 1972
Munich Olympics, winning seven gold medals—with seven world records—in what many consider to be one of the greatest achievements in all of sport.

Phelps is aiming to better that mark in Beijing, hoping to bring home eight golds. And Spitz, now 58 and grey and without his trademark moustache, cannot understand why he wasn't asked along to see the show.

"They voted me one of the top five Olympians in all time. Some of them are dead. But they invited the other ones to go to the Olympics, but not me," he said. "Yes, I am a bit upset about it."

Now a stockbroker and motivational speaker, Spitz also thinks he could have won eight golds himself in Munich if only he had had the chance.

"I won seven events. If they had the 50m freestyle back then, which they do now, I probably would have won that too," he said.

Spitz, whose brief stint in show business in the 1970s never quite matched his success in the pool, said he attended the Athens Olympics four years ago—when Phelps also tried to break the record.

"They did not once put my face on television," he recalled. "But as soon as the swimming was over, and Michael Phelps didn't break my record, every time I went to beach volley, they put my face on the volleyballs."

Spitz said it would have been a great idea if he could be the one presenting the gold medals to Phelps, who has for years been candid about his ambition to eclipse the mark of seven golds.

And Spitz thinks Phelps will succeed—for one very good reason.

"He's almost identical to me. He's a world-record holder in all these events, so he is dominating the events just like I did," Spitz said. "He reminds me of myself."

This is very disappointing, because I used to really admire the guy. Now my admiration will be limited to his swimming prowess...not to him in general.

Look, maybe he felt he should have been invited, but I can see where this would be a touchy subject for the organizations he called out. Not everyone would be excited about their legendary accomplishment being eclipsed, and if Spitz was one of those people, he would be in an awkward position if he had been formally invited, and didn't want to go. Perhaps to spare him this awkwardness, they didn't formally invite him, figuring if he wanted to go, surely he would let it be known, or assuming that maybe he would just show up on his own. I assume he can figure out how to get to Beijing on his own.

Oh, wait, I forgot.

"You don't go to the Olympics just to say, I am going to go. Especially because of who I am,"

Excuse me, your highness? Because of who you are? Is that off-putting to anyone else?

Dude, millions of people go to the Olympics just to say they are going to go, but obviously they are just regular folks. God forbid you should be associated with the regular folks.

And yes, it would have been a nice touch if "Spitz...could be the one presenting the gold medals to Phelps," but could you imagine asking him to? I can't imagine anyone would ever cross that line. If Spitz was so selfless that he wanted to do that, he should have been the one to bring it up. It wouldn't have been proper for anyone else to ask him to do it.

And he goes on to complain about his face not being on television enough. Uhm, egotistical much? This isn't as much about you as you seem to think, Dude.

But my favorite part..."I won seven events. If they had the 50m freestyle back then, which they do now, I probably would have won that too. He's almost identical to me. He's a world-record holder in all these events, so he is dominating the events just like I did. He reminds me of myself."

I see. Well let's hope he's not entirely like you. Let's hope that if he succeeds, and lives to see someone eventually surpass him, that Michael Phelps demonstrates some class and sportsmanship, instead of hurt feelings and whinniness. Let's hope he can man up and concede that someone bested him without all the pouting "poor me" bullshit. After all, isn't that the whole point of being an athlete? To be better, faster, stronger than those who came before you? To try and be the best? Shouldn't Mark Spitz, of all people, know this?

Guess not.

And this guy is a motivational speaker?

Well I guess he did motivate me...to cheer for Michael Phelps even harder than I had already planned to.

How Hard Can It Be?

Olympic Gymnastics, that is.

Oh I know these are highly trained athletes who sacrifice all manner of traditional childhoods, family time, friends, etc., to become Olympians. Yes, I know this.

But my 2 and a half year old granddaughter, does not yet understand it.

Upon seeing the first U.S. Gymnast perform her floor exercise yesterday, the Puddin' Pop immediately flung herself on the floor and attempted to match the world class athlete's perfomance.

Of course she didn't quite succeed, but it made for some funny video. And of course, she is gold in our minds!

I'm Back

I have returned from my vacation...a trip to visit family in the mid-west. I had a great visit with everyone, drank too much, ate too much, shopped too much, and laughed...well, you can never really laugh too much, can you? Anyway, it was lovely. Even the weather cooperated, and we only had one really disgustingly humid, hot day.

Unfortunately, I had to come back to work. I had left three specific projects to one of my staff to complete while I was gone. Two of these were one shot deals...things that needed to be taken care of at a meeting I missed. I returned to find that none of the three projects had been properly completed. My staff "forgot."

He forgot.

I likely won't.

Anyway...I'm back.

I feel like it's been years since I've had anything meaningful to say here. Maybe one of these days I will feel inspired to write a blog that is more than an update or an announcement or an apology. We'll see.