Sunday night blahs

Sorry, all. I'm a bit whiny and exhausted. Late last week I picked up a spring cold. I called in sick on Friday, but I feel somewhat compelled to drag myself in for at least part of the day tomorrow.

I haven't been getting enough sleep, being all snuffly and achy. I'm not even all that sleepy right now. But, I know that I am tired. I walked past a mirror earlier this evening and I look like a creature from a George Romero movie (re: "Night of the Living Dead"). I have HUGE dark circles under my eyes.

Work is very stressful right now. A project that I have been working on for almost a year is about to implode. Apparently, the person who put the requirements together was smoking crack, big time. The product we bought to go into production with just isn't going to cut the mustard at this point. On one level I know that it is not my fault. On the other hand, I feel like I should have recognized the issue long ago.

Maybe my body is wallowing in this illness as a means of avoidance. I need to communicate the issue with management, but I REALLY don't want to. A lot was riding on the successful completion of this project. Now, it's kind of a bust. Throwing more money at it might save the situation. However, the person who initially started this project has left the organization, and management was glad to see her go. They'll probably chalk this failure up to her more than me. On the other hand, a lot of people were counting on this project/product being delivered. We needed the tools that it would have given us to improve a lot of processes. Now, we'll probably have to continue to limp by with the inadequate tools we're currently using for at least another six to nine months while we wait for new budget allocations and a project refresh.

At least I'm getting a little chuckle right now as I can clearly hear Han Solo in my head, "It's not my fault!" I just hope my upper management agrees (after the initial knee jerk explosion that usually comes with the presentation of bad news).

Why, oh why, doesn't night time cold medicine make me drowsy?

The most sophisticated piece of technology...

You really have to love when a company doesn't take itself too seriously.

Last night, we were watching junk television (I think it was E!) when this totally stunning commercial hit us from out of the blue. Well, out of the Clear Blue Easy, that is.



I still can't believe that some ad man pitched this line and the company bought it: "It is the most sophisticated piece of technology you will ever pee on."

And, come on, do we REALLY need digital pregnancy tests? Don't we have enough throwaway crap as it is? Did someone really need to come up with a "sophisticated piece of technology" that gets urinated on and tossed in the waste basket that quickly? Aren't we throwing away enough high tech junk quickly enough?

On the other hand, we just couldn't stop laughing about the tag line for hours afterwards. B knew I would have to blog about it. And, he was right.

A blog name, my "K"ingdom for a blog name!

Some of us try not to advertise our full identities on our blogs. In addition, we try to protect our family's privacy by not divulging too much about them, especially not their full names. So, when I refer to my husband I will usually refer to him as "B" or "my husband". And, when I refer to my son I will usually refer to him as "K" or "my son". However, my good friend Briwei has challenged me to come up with a blog name for my son. I think it is probably appropriate, since I DO seem to blog about the woes of parenting him so frequently. (grin)

So, here are some ideas I have. Let me know if there are any that you particularly like:

1. Special K


2. Kid K


3. The Kid


4. Dobbie (see previous post


5. The King


6. Albatross


7. Grendel


8. The Wall


9. My Apathetic Greasey-headed Early-Onset Alzheimer's Curmudgeon (too long, I know)


10. Borgin (the greasy-haired forgetful dark arts proprietor of Borgin and Burkes from Harry Potter)


11. ???

So, who is this "K" of which I speak?

This week was K's fifteenth birthday, as hard as that is to believe. We got him "Rock Band" for the Xbox360. His other relatives sent him some much appreciated cash. He is about to go away for the weekend with his youth group. When he gets back, we promised to take him out for a belated birthday dinner at a restaurant he has wanted to try out. Oh, and school vacation is next week as well. However, he's volunteering at the YMCA (sort of a required servitude for kids who want to get into the camp counselor program).

He's on the tennis team while trying to keep his grades at B's and better. He's also pretty into his guitar lessons. He also likes skateboarding, and has a wild affinity for the sloppy slacker clothes that skateboarders wear. He likes to waste time on the Internet (particularly chat, myspace, and facebook - though he is currently banned from chat due to some school work concerns). He has several TV shows he likes to watch, some of which we also like to watch - though he prefers to watch them without us.

He can be a pretty humorous kid at times. Though, he is also forgetful, argumentative, and sullen. I guess being a teen is tough. But, so is parenting one.

Gushing over grousing

I'm having a REALLY crappy week at work, which I may choose to grouse about later. However, I have decided to gush instead of grouse.

On the way home from work this evening, I popped in Green Day's American Idiot CD. It really is some fine work, IMO. When I got to "Holiday" I got all warm and goose pimply.

A few weeks ago, we went to an event at our church put on by my son's youth group. It was a 'coffee house' (read: dinner with amateur performances). The theme was "Harry Potter". All the youth and their advisers dressed in costume. My son was Dobbie the house elf. He wore a large pillow case with shoe lace straps. Everyone loved calling for his aid, "Oh, Dobbie!!!" To which he eagerly came running prepared to be helpful. (Note to self: Maybe if we make him wear the costume around the house he will be pleasantly helpful? Not!)

Towards the end of the evening, my son and a friend of his got up on stage to perform. He plays guitar and she plays bass, and did the vocals to the songs they performed. The first song they did was "Baby, I'm an anarchist." It was an amusing song that they did a fine job with.

Next, they did Green Day's "Holiday". Not only did they do a bang up job with the song, but other members of the youth group shouted out at all the appropriate places in the song, quite boisterously. The camaraderie among the group was amazing. I was both proud and stunned. The experience made me see that my son has a very rich life and a great group of friends that he values very much (if I threaten not to let him go to a youth group event I can't get him to do almost ANYTHING I want him to do.)

So, every time I hear "Holiday" now, it reminds me that there is hope for my son. That he has talent and goodness in him. For the length of the song, at least, I can forget what a pain it is to live with a teenager.

Travel lite ... or pay big time

Beginning next month, most major airlines will charge for a second checked bag. The cost is $25 a pop each way. And, if any of your bags weighs more than 50 pounds, you could be hit another $100 each way. And some are charging a $100 for checking a third bag ($25 for the second, still). These are domestic rates. International will probably be higher.

So, next year, when we're flying to Europe for eight days, I will DEFINITELY have to master the whole 'lite packing' concept.