Who Google Thinks I am . . . .

Google thinks I'm a 45-54 year old male - I don't know why exactly but apparently part of it is because I did searches on laptops and device drivers (although I don't remember doing those searches anytime recently!!).  It did get right "localities >North America>USA>South (USA)>Virginia>Virginia Beach-Hampton Roads but that should have been a no-brainer because Google knows my IP address! :-)

Anyway, check who Google thinks you are!!

Hair cut

Does it say something about me or the person who colors and cuts my hair that I come home and re-wet and re-dry it??  I love the color and the cut's ok (it's a new one, slightly shorter but overall I like it) but the blow out wasn't good today!  I looked very strange with puffy bangs and hair that was sweeping back (that part was ok but the puffy bangs HAD to go!).  I couldn't even stand it on the drive home and simply pushed my bangs back but when I got home it was into the shower for a complete wet down!!

The re-dry was much better and more of what I was looking for . . . she's been doing my hair for almost 30 years (YIKES) and I suppose if this is the only complaint I have I'm very lucky!

Exercise

I know I should exercise and I know I should eat better - I do.  And a few weeks ago I began riding the stationary bike - a mile every day but I got a "bug" and didn't do it for a couple of days and that's all it took to stop . . . SIGH.

I started again this evening - two miles in about 12 minutes.  I'm going to have to push myself to do at least 2 miles every day - maybe twice a day on days I'm off - and hopefully I can make this a habit.  Fingers crossed this time.

As for the food - I'm trying and guess I have to try even harder!  DOUBLE SIGH!!



(this isn't the exact bike but it's close - Bry and I both use it so luckily the seat is easily adjusted!  I don't do the fancy hills and scenarios that are available - I'm working on flat land at the least resistance - for a long while probably!  at least it faces the TV so I can watch my true crime channels while I pedal! :) )

Silly cats

This is Quincy - he's been with me for a little over 5 years now - doesn't seem that long but it apparently has been!  He was about 18 mo. old when I found him living under the house - so now he's a hearty, healthy 7 year old!

If he'd only stop trying to escape to the outside we'd all be happier but as long as we have a door between the family room and the front door we're ok!

I actually found a picture of Cleo in a very similar position!!  She's closer to 11 now but that doesn't seem possible either.  She's lost some weight with her age (I wish it worked that way for me) and is doing well - although she'd prefer to be an only cat most days!  She's certainly not the same cat who walked into Oceanfront about 6 years ago!

(she's much smaller now and doesn't lie on her back much anymore - she's usually on the back of the sofa - squishing the cushion)

Time flies . . .

I don't know what happened . . . but suddenly I'm the oldest person in the room!  It's a very strange feeling because, most of the time, I don't feel like I'm that much older - aside from the occasional ache and pain and I certainly can't squat down like I used to - but I don't actually feel any different.  Seems like just yesterday I was one of the youngest people in the room!

It's happened gradually (well at least I think it has) but now my boss is younger than I am; her boss is younger than I am and today I was at a meeting where, of the seven people on the team and the "special guest", I was the oldest.  I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about that - glad I'm still around for sure; grateful that, for some, the age difference isn't huge (about 3 years); concerned that I don't feel any smarter or experienced - definitely.

Anyway, it's a fact and won't be changed - I doubt if anyone will hire older people just to make me feel better!  It's a thought but I don't think it will fly!

If Only . . .

“We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

I wish that more people valued people over things - I wish that more children and young people knew the value of those things and greater importance of the people who provide the things.  There's always hope and it's my hope that we can actually do what Dr. King recommends and move to a "person-oriented" society.

I'm trying to do my part. I remember my mother telling me once that my father came home and told her that they were going to have to move. They had a nice little house (according to Mom) and she had spent some time and effort in making curtains and fixing things up.  She really didn't want to leave!!  She said that my father told her that the house was just a thing - that things could be replaced but that people couldn't.  I've tried to live that kind of life - I love my house and the things in it (or they probably wouldn't be here) but I've always said that only the breathing beings (and I'm including any pets that reside here in that!) are important to me - those are what I would fight to save.  I keep that story in the forefront of my mind whenever I think about people and things.  

Customer Service

I work in customer service . . plain and simple and yet, it is anything but plain or simple.  Customer service is hard - really hard.  Most of the customers I see are nice, pleasant people who actually apologize for asking for help (it's why I'm there - ask away!!).  And it's so much fun to find an answer or help someone with a problem or issue they're having.

But there are others.  It's hard to help people who are impatient, irritated, on the telephone (my pet peeve!) or oblivious.  I'm sorry that your items are late and you now owe us money - I really am but it's not my fault!  It's not my fault that a hurricane was coming so you evacuated three days early (and days after your materials were due!) and, no, I'm not willing to waive those fines.  I didn't check out all those items and then pack them when you moved so that now they're months late and you've gotten a call from the collection agency. But I'm willing to help figure out the best solution for everyone.  And I'm not the one who was on Facebook for 50 minutes and now only has 10 minutes to type up the letter that was so urgent you HAD to have a computer NOW - and no, the next reservation is starting in 10 minutes so I can't extend your time.  But I will see if there's another computer that you can use either now or shortly to finish your work.

Some suggestions:

• keep that receipt - it gives your due dates and if you lose it - check online or call us
• have your card with you when you come in or call on the phone - it'll speed things along
• have email that you're willing to share - we'll let you know things are coming due - great for saving on fines!
• don't berate the staff when the situation is out of their control - they're really trying to help you 

My workplace is very customer oriented and we work hard at it and most of the time I think we get it right.  But it's hard work every day . . . and every day I hope that at least one person walks away pleased with the service they've received.

Dreams

I changed the design of my blog (several times in the recent past) because Blogger has had so many new options!  This one I chose because of my dreams of traveling.  I've been really lucky and visited a few foreign countries and I'd love to go again.  There are several places in the US I'd like to visit too . . . so many places, so little money!

(my version of the new design - from a trip to Vegas in 2009)

Alternate Realities

Lately I've been thinking about roads not taken, of paths changed, often through no choice of mine.  I don't know that I would change anything in my life only because one change can affect so many others, but it would be interesting to see that alternate reality - the "what might have been".

If I could go back 48 (or a bit more) years ago and convince doctors that colonoscopies were the way to go AND if I could convince my father to have one, he might not have died when I was 14.  My life would have been different but what would I have missed?  Would I have been able to go to college (and specifically the college I attended) because the cost was covered by part of his life insurance.  If I hadn't gone to that college, at that time, I wouldn't have met the man I married and I wouldn't have had the two children I have. I might have had others but not these two.  I probably wouldn't have moved to Hampton Roads and probably wouldn't have worked in a library - a whole lot of misses!  Would the changes have compensated for those?  I'll never know!

But I do know that I did go to college and the one I wanted.  I did meet a wonderful man who died much too young and I had two terrific (to me anyway!) children who mean the world to me.  I did move (courtesy of that husband and the US Navy) to Hampton Roads where I've been on and off for almost 38 years and, for the last 25 years I've been working in a library and enjoying [almost!] every minute of it.

So for all the thinking and pondering, and all the wishes I have to see lost family members one more time, I have to say that my life has been pretty good.  I've known (and know) some wonderful people, I enjoy my family, my home and my life.  I'm looking forward to the next steps - while keeping the memories of the past close to my heart.

Making a difference . . .

From a blog I read occasionally - "One option is to struggle to be heard whenever you're in the room . . . another is to be the sort of person who is missed when you are not.  The first involves making noise. The second involves making a difference."

How I would like to think that I'm someone who's making a difference, but a closer look at my life shows I'm more likely the person making noise - or if not that person, then one who's not missed when she leaves the room because I've made no contribution.

It's difficult to be in the last third of your life - the promise of youth is behind me as is the productivity of early adulthood.  I still believe that I have things to do . . . and I know I've done things of which I'm very proud . . . but I also know that time is finite.

Ah . . . but too much of this only breeds melancholy and that's just counter-productive so while the quiet times do lead to contemplation, they don't lead to depression or melancholy.

Just for me

Not long ago my Facebook horoscope (yea, I know! but at least I don't publish them!) said:  What was the last thing you bought/did just for yourself - not for the house, not for the children, just for you?  I had to really think about it, because I've been buying (Christmas!!) and spending on things for the house (windows, dresser, etc.) but I couldn't remember what was for me.

I do now - after a lovely time in DC at the Kennedy Center I know what was just for me - the season tickets to the theater!  Yes, I bought two - I've been doing that for YEARS - but that gives me the opportunity to spend time with friends by asking one of them to come with me!  While it may seem extravagant, the cost isn't that much spread over a year and I don't spend much money just on me - so I'm going to keep doing it as long as I can.