Things I See on the Way to the Train

So what do you do when you have to go in to the office on the weekend? Not only the weekend, but quite possibly the most glorious Saturday in forever. So, you could get bitter, or you could enjoy the trip. I chose to enjoy it.

Especially since this was the first thing that I saw:

Beautiful, isn't it? That's the building right across from me. I loved the red on red (on blue). I crossed the street and started walking, reveling in the sunlight, the warmth, and the beauty. I passed a bush in full fall splendor and thought "Maybe I should take my camera back out." But I didn't.

A few steps later I wondered why I cared if anyone saw me standing there, taking pictures of random things. I mean, who really cares, right? So I took my camera out again. And just in time...

So then I decided to take pictures all the way to the train. Perhaps when it's cold and gross I can look back and remember how beautiful my neighborhood is, in all the big and little ways.

Like the Lutheran Church...

 And the flowers in front of the church, clinging so tightly to life...

 The inscription that shows this building is exactly 55 years older than me.

 A dark door in shadow, and bright flowers in the light...

 This one is by far my favorite.

 And always, always remember that the sun is shining.

No matter how much humanity grows, it can always coexist with nature if we just try.

This one just cracks me up because it looks like the mail slot is drooling.

 I love the juxtaposition of light and dark, sunshine and shadow.

 See? I'm not the only one out taking pictures.

 Every balcony above a bar should have a flag.

Poor Orderly. He's always being left behind...

Ah, the Vic. Home of the bar within a movie theater. Or, vice versa.

And last but not least... Going up.

Well, that's my neighborhood.

Why I Love Google Chrome

Five Reasons Why I Love Google Chrome:

1. Doesn't he look like a totally awesome, fun-loving younger brother of the spaceship/computer in Flight of the Navigator?
2. When my computer got its virus (booo) the awesome guys at The Geek Squad installed Google Chrome because it had more built-in virus protection than my prior web browser.
3. It has a download "bar" at the bottom of the screen so when you forget where the heck your downloaded files go because you hit "close" instead of "open," now all you have to do is click on the icon at your convenience. For that matter, you don't get the annoying pop-up window telling you that thing you downloaded is ready RIGHT NOW while you're trying to do something else.
4. Because everything Google is just awesome. Have you seen their tribute to John Lennon yet today? (of course you might not see it if you're not reading this today)
5. And last, but quite specifically not least, it has a built-in spell-check!!! Ok, maybe other browsers do too, but this came with it already on so I didn't have to go find it. And there is nothing better than having your computer tell you when you've misspelled "extraordinary," especially when you start asking yourself why oh why you decided to try ending all of your blog comments on other people's posts with "Have an Extraordinary Day" because seriously, it's like a tongue-twister typing that all out quickly!!!!

Ok, there you have it. From a not-very-technical person to you, the 5 reasons why Google Chrome rocks. If you have a browser you prefer, feel free to let me know. I might never switch, but if you can give me 5 good reasons why I should, I'll at least think about it. :)

Why You Should Have Your Gallbladder Removed, And Seven Other Funny Things That Happened To Me This Week

So ok, when you go to bed with a sharp ache (incongruous, I know) right below your ribcage, and wake up with said sharp ache feeling like an alien is using a pickaxe in an attempt to burst out of your torso, you might want to consider the fact that you've got gallstones. Or aliens…

But in all seriousness, gallstone attacks are horrific. I've never had a baby so I can't compare the level of pain, but even if you're having quadruplets, you're generally going to have them over a rather short, prescribed period of time, generally not more than 3 days, not one every few days over the course of a month or so (thank God!). But there is nothing quite so heinous as an affliction that will show up this night but not that night, and possibly two nights in a row, and when Wikipedia (which is always right) says that the attacks can last as little as 30 minutes, you just want to find out who in the world wrote that, find their home address, and implant an alien into their stomach to see if it really only takes 30 minutes for it to pry its way out (and did I mention it's not a particularly sharp pickaxe, and it's pretty tight in there so there isn't much room to get leverage, so it's a loooooong process).

I would say that wasn't typed with any bitterness, but I was told that lying is wrong. :)

I think you get the point though, eh? If you or someone you know starts having pains like that, even if they're not that strong, go see a doctor!!!! Especially if you realize it happens at night after you've eaten something particularly greasy or fatty that day. Please, for me, go get it checked out. And if the doctor tells you to have your gallbladder taken out, well, I would strongly suggest you do. Of course, I'm still 2 weeks away from my surgery date so I'll tell you how it goes afterwards, but yeah... I'm all about getting it done. The only reason I've waited so long once I saw the doctor is because I've been trying to organize my work life so I don't leave my department unprepared, and I'm helping to organize my church's women's retreat the weekend prior.

But I will have you know, you truly must be careful. The cause for the pain in your gallbladder is not the existence of gallstones--lots of people have gallstones but no pain. The cause for the pain is when a gallstone gets caught in the opening of the gallbladder and blocks the passage of the bile which your gallbladder stores. But--but the danger is if that little gallstone gets out. If it gets out, it will (not might, will) get stuck in your bile duct, and that will mean agonizing pain (as if you haven't already been experiencing pain), jaundice, vomiting, and the possibility of death. Wait, what? Ok, the death part doesn't exactly happen a lot. A gallbladder removal is very routine. What makes it not routine is when the gallstone gets out, generally because someone attempted to gut it out and not go to the doctor right away. So please, please don't let that happen to you. If you think two weeks of recovery time for a laproscopic surgery is bad/annoying, try two months of down time because the doctors had to cut into your body through all the skin and muscles and open you up and then search--search!--for the rogue stone.

Now ok, I didn't mean to gross anyone out, or freak them out for that matter. That is why I didn't put an actual picture of gallstones at the beginning of my post (I know you were wondering). So in an attempt to lighten the mood, here is a list of funny things that happened to me in the last week. Ok, they may or may not be funny. I mean, I haven't written them yet, so I don't really know. So feel free to laugh, or not. I mean, it's not like I'm watching you read this (or am I? ooOOOOOooooo....)

Seven Funny Things That Happened To Me This Week:

1. Yesterday a guy on the train touched my boob. Ok I say this was funny because I don't know if it happened on purpose or not. The train was fairly crowded, so I was kinda standing in a way that if we'd been dating, I could have leaned back into his chest, and he could have wrapped his free arm around me tenderly and it would have been lovely. (and by "free arm" I mean his left arm was holding onto the same post I was holding onto with my left arm, for balance). After about 3 stops I exchanged hands, so his left hand was holding the post and my right hand was holding it, and I had a bag in my left hand, so when the train stopped and he moved his arm, his thumb totally grazed my boob. Ironically I'd just been standing there, studiously avoiding looking at him, 'cause I had just been thinking "Wow, his hand is close to my boob. I wonder if he would--oh, and yes, yes he would."

2. I found vegetables in my fridge. Last weekend I had a Silpada Jewelry party. (Super fun, I'm so excited for my new bracelet!) And what does one serve at a party? Veggies and dip, of course! Well I was so far behind in getting ready that my first guest arrived before I'd had a chance to do the food. I was, however, beautifully made-up and coiffed. I did make sure to get *that* done. But anyway, my friend offered to cut the veggies, which I gratefully accepted, and let her have at it. And then today I moved the orange juice and voila--green peppers I'd forgotten I'd bought!

3. I watched The Big Bang Theory. Ok, that's not really something funny that happened so much as it was a funny show that I watched. I love that show. Like really, really love. Like, I actually try to leave work on time to make sure I'm home by 7pm so I can watch it. Love it. You should all watch it. Go buy the first 3 seasons right now, in fact. Go on, I'll wait. la la la...

4. I had a book renamed just for me by the author. (Again, not "funny" per se, but dude, this is awesome...) Last year I went to a Matthew West concert right before Christmas. He had written a book called "Give This Christmas Away." I told my sister to buy it for me and it would be her Christmas present to me. Hooray, right? So the book is cd-shaped, which is quite appropriate given the musical nature of Matthew's job (he's a Christian musician if you don't know--and if you aren't familiar, go buy his new record right now!!!) So on Christmas day 2009, I get handed the present from my sister, and it's cd-shaped and I'm like "Oh my, I wonder what this could be, tee hee..." and she's like "I don't know, haha" and I open it, and it's a CD. Um, what? What? It was a mystery. What happened?? Well, this week the mystery was solved. The book had been placed in the glove compartment of the car, where it lived happily for 10 months. My stepdad, who wraps all the presents, didn't know about the book, so he put my sister's name on a CD they'd bought for me. Then two weeks ago they found the book. And gave it to me the night of a CD release party/concert for Matthew's new CD. So what did I do? I put it in my purse. And brought it to the concert. And gave it to Matthew to sign, while telling him the story. One of his opening acts joked "ha, so it's really give LAST Christmas away!" And we all laughed and Matthew crossed out "this" on the cover with his Sharpie, and wrote "Last" above it. So now I have my very own personalized copy of his book.

5. Dude, I've already written a lot. Who said this had to be seven? Um... I'm sure I've got at least one more. Hang on...

6. I heard a funny blonde joke this week, one I hadn't heard before. Here it is: A blonde called her boyrfriend and said "honey I'm trying to do this jigsaw puzzle and it's just too hard. Can you come over and help me?" The boyfriend didn't know she owned any puzzles, so he asked her to describe it. "Well, all the pieces are just so hard to put together, and there's thousands of them! And the box has a picture of a rooster on it, but I just can't figure it out." So the boyfriend goes over to her house. He walks into the room, looks at the table, then sighs, and takes his girlfriend's hand. "You know what, honey," he said. "Let's go buy you another puzzle. And when we get back, we'll put the cornflakes away."

7. Here's something funny--I decided to write seven funny things that happened to me this week, and then I realized how long this blog post already was.

So then I stopped.

Calm Down? Well, Eff You too.

Some people are very emotional. Some people are not. I'll give you two guesses which one I am. And the first guess doesn't count.

Yes, I am a rather emotional person. And you know what, I don't feel bad about it.

Now, I was watching The Apprentice yesterday, and one of the women was getting really loud and emphatic whenever she spoke, and everyone accused her of taking everything personally. And I must admit that she was a bit overdoing it. So when someone said she was being too emotional, I'm sure most people agreed.

But I'm not sure. I don't think you can be *too* emotional. What I do think you can do is let your emotions run away with you. But there's nothing wrong with having and even expressing your emotions!

I was reading a book about different personality types, and one of the things they said about dealing with the very emotional is that they need to be allowed to let their emotions out. Once they've done that, they can move on. Of course if you read about how to deal with the types that don't show their emotions on their sleeves, it says to be highly technical with them and don't bring emotion into it. So... I guess I can't just expect everyone who deals with me to feel that they have to put up with me being emotional about everything that happens, because technically I should be seeking the best ways to interact with them and their types,

But there is one thing I ask. Please, when interacting with me, if I do unstopper the bottle and let my emotions out, please do not tell me to "calm down." I will give you a hint towards understanding my people: "Calm down" actually translates to "Stop expressing your feelings, they are not valid." In other words... eff you.

Oh yes, when people tell me to calm down, it actually makes me more angry. Because what that means to me is that they don't want to accept my emotions as valid. And since I am the emotional being, then I myself am not valid. (Ok, if this is just me, and not all emotional people out there, then fine, it's just me).

But I will tell you that you can be calm and rational when I get emotional--as long as you make it clear that you value who I am, and ask reasonable questions, I will be much more open to toning down the energy and returning to a normal conversational tone. Just please, please don't tell me to calm down. Let me do it on my own.