Executive Assistants Drive Me Crazy

They all act as though they ARE the executives they support.

When they ask for your assistant, it's as if they are giving you an order. They only delegate the most mundane, boring, mindless tasks, and they delegate them even if they have the time to do them, as though those tasks are beneath them. Actually, I should say that not all EAs are like that…just one in particular that is driving me nuts today. : ) She's been in this department for going on 10 years or something and I guess it's more than her antics about work that bother me, it's her attitude all together.

Oh well, I've vented about that…now on to more important things… : )

Bush's Mom is Saying Some Funky Things...

1. That it's scary that the refugees want to stay in Texas…
2. That living in a stadium is working very well for these po'folks that are underprivileged anyway…

Barbara, I really like your son and all, but would you please shut up????

How could anyone think that living in a stadium is preferable to living in your own home, no matter what it's like?

As for point #1, I guess that shows what caliber she believes those people to be.

And the Texans themselves are probably a little scared that those folks are going to want to stay put.

Nebraska is getting setup to receive about 500 refugees. If I were a refugeen from New Orleans, no way would I want to go back there. Not after I see what a great place Omaha is to live.

Now, some Omahans may be aghast at what I just said.

But think about it, honestly. Can you imagine how much worse it is to be poor and African American in New Orleans than in Omaha? Nebraska has a lot more promise than Louisiana, no doubt. And although Omaha may not be a playground for adults, Omaha is known as a good place to raise children and a good place to live. Maybe I'm just an ignorant, un-travelled midwesterner, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Time will tell the tale. : )

Kanye West Says it All

Quotes are taken from this story: http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/tv/article.adp?id=20050901235109990011

I don't agree with people who blame everything that happens to African Americans on race.

But part of what this guy said was right.

"George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

Wait…there's more…

"I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food."

There were a couple other tidbits, but they're not noteworthy. A better way to put that might be that I think you can get the jist from this.

He definitely is wrong in saying that George Bush doesn't care about black people. That's not true and it's definitely an unfair, inflammatory statement. His statement about America being setup to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible has a ring of truth to it. But what he's missing is that those people also tend to be the ones who have less clues about how to get help and be proactive about their situations. I'm not being nasty…it's just the truth. I've seen it in my own family.

People who are very, very poor feel out of control of their environment and their lives. Things just 'happen' to them. It's the poverty that breeds it…not that those people aren't good people or smart people or anything…it's that their whole life hangs on their next paycheck. They spend their lives waiting for their next check to arrive, and it doesn't matter if it's from the government or if they've worked their butts off for that money. Can you understand what I'm saying here? And believe me, it's applicable equally to blacks, whites, hispanics, it just doesn't matter. And that is an incredibly hard mindset to break out of.

As for the portrayal in the media -- I haven't seen that blacks are any less favorably portrayed than whites during this crisis. It just happens that the looting we've all heard about is going on in New Orleans. And what race do most people in New Orleans happen to be? African American. And what race are most of the people who ended up stuck in that city? African American. So add that up and yes, most of the looters are going to be black…but not because desperate, hungry African Americans are more likely to loot than desperate, hungry white people…but because most of the desperate, hungry people happen to be African American.

When they have shown white people looking for food, it wasn't people in New Orleans…it was people in Mississippi, where most people are white. Most coverage has been of the stuff going on in New Orleans so the perception, if you don't watch and listen closely, could be that African Americans are being portrayed unfairly.

To me, the stories I have read have seemed balanced. Yes, they have covered the looting. But there also have been repeated examples of how the African Americans hate it just as much as anyone else. And there have been examples showing that these people need food and water and there was only one way to get it and that, although they didn't like having to take it, they had to survive somehow.

So on one part, West is right. But as for him saying that it's ENTIRELY about race, I think he's wrong about that one.

After You've Been Fat and then Thin (Or Close to it)...something happens...

I never before felt truly shamed for being overweight, because I had never been anything close to being thin or even close to being considered normal. But now that I have been somewhere close (but not very close!) to normal and stuff, I now feel different about being overweight. I feel fat and ugly. It never bothered me so much before as it does now to be overweight.  I think that might be a good thing though. Might be a motivator. :)

Sunburn Day 10: Status: Same sh*t, different day.

Suburn Day 9: Status: Sweating still makes blisters, but less of them.

Sunburn Day 8: Status: Sweating makes more blisters

which makes more peeling.

Katrina and the Blame Game

So it's been a little over a week since Katrina hit New Orleans and Mississippi.

I'm reading the news this morning on AOL and I read about how Pierce Brosnan is blasting President Bush for the response to Katrina. And I thought to myself, who the heck are you to blast my country? You don't live here. You don't really know what's going on here. President Bush is doing his best to get this taken care of, but, in my opinion, the response to this is not his fault.

No one could have been prepared for the effect that this hurricane would have on New Orleans. No one could have known how bad it was going to be. Sure, they could predict, but how many times have you or I seen an accident about to happen in our own homes but responded lacadaisically because you didn't think it was going to be that bad? It's the same phenomenon.

And why is it that the federal government is so responsible for this? Where was the state government? I saw New Orleans Mayor Nagin speaking about getting the state and federal governments to coordinate with each other and he said that Governor Blanco was stalling for time…but he didn't say it in those words. President Bush and Governor Blanco met on Air Force One and President Bush said that Blanco wanted 24 hours to decide on whatever option they had discussed.

Do you see what I mean? I mean, how insane is it for someone to ask for 24 hours to make a decision on ANYTHING when people are dying every minute?

Bush does not strike me as being indecisive or inattentive. In fact, sometimes I think his tendency to move quickly to get things done might have hurt him, like, for instance, in Iraq. He knew something was going on there and he wanted to go over there and quelch it. So he did. That hurt him because then no WMD were found. If Bush were the governor and not that twerp Blanco, I think that state would have been better off.

Undoubtedly, there were some foul-ups, but what do you expect from a bureaucracy as large as the federal government? That state should have been more ready so that they could take care of themselves passably while the Feds got their asses in gear. But even that may be unreasonable to think…Louisiana may be rich in culture, but rich financially, it is not.

Hurricane Katrina Has Exposed the Racial Divide in Louisiana

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050902071309990001

Check out this story.

I noticed this long before the news picked up on it. Come on! It was so obvious. Almost all those people at the Superdome in Louisiana were black…all you had to do was look at the pictures to see it. I didn't see one white person in the crowds…it was a sea of black skin. I wondered when people would start noticing this.

I'm white but I will say this: you wonder why the response to this tragedy is so sluggish? It's because no one has sympathy for thousands of black people. When fighting and looting erupts among them because they're starving and desperate, people find it incredibly easy to just say it's because they're 'those people'. When they started shooting at helicopters and making their own situation worse, I know what people were thinking, "Well what do you expect from those people?"

If that was a bunch of white people, you might have seen the same violence, you might now have. Who knows? But I do know that if those people were white, even if they were white looters and fighters, you'd have seen a lot more sympathy.

Sunburn Day 7: Status: Houston, We have peeling

The blisters have appeared…oh great. I thought I'd escaped, damnit.

Now You Know I Hate to Say It...

But BF was right about the books.

I shouldn't have spent that money. Now Phrecklette has lice and I don't have money to get the lice shampoo she needs. UGH. I am really kicking myself about that. And I can't say to him, ok you were right because then he'll want even more control. Why does he always have to be right? It's not fair!

Phrecklette is home today.

She's got lice and a cough. I was going to send her to school, but BF poo poo'd that idea.

I know it sounds horrible that I was going to send her, but believe me, she's had coughs before. Usually it's no big deal. However, BF knows a lot more about children's illnesses than I do. He listened to the cough and said there's a ton of congestion and stuff. He offered to take her to the doctor's office for me.

As for the lice, well, daycare is probably where she got it, and I am running out of vacation days. Hence, I didn't think it was a big deal. I'll be doing the lice shampoo thing tonight or tomorrow night, depending on when I can get the money to do it.

So anyway, that's the Phrecklette scoop today.

Sunburn Day 6: Status: fine. No peeling, nothing.

I'm not sure if that's good or bad lol. One thing's for sure - it's more hygenic. :)

Sunburn Day 5: Status: Almost healed. Very little pain, no blistering at all. :)

In fact, I was actually able to shower last night. Thank God…my hair was soooo gross.

Sunburn Day 4: Status: Not bad...less painful after Tylenol-induced coma. No blistering yet.

Who Knew Books Could Cause Such a Stir?

I decided to order some books for Phrecklette through her school. They were about $17 total. Since I don’t have checks yet for my new account, I had to get a money order. I got one last night at my bank and asked BF to take it to her school this morning. He asked me what it was for. Knowing he would give me his unsolicited advice about the wisdom of purchasing books for her, I said it was tuition. I didn't have time to argue with him this morning.

Well, being the smart cookie that he is, he figured it out and didn't give them the money order. Damnit. He thinks I should not be spending money on these books. He says I should get them from a garage sale or something. Normally I'd concur with that, but when do I have time to go to garage sales? Furthermore, these are really good quality books…books like the ones that I had when I was a kid. He says I should go through the books that I already have and read those to her first. We've read all of those…many of them are for kids much younger than she. Honestly, I need to get rid of them.

I wanted to get her some new books because I want to expose her to new things. New ideas, ways of speaking, concepts, the whole thing. Aren't we encouraged to do that as parents?

I guess I don't understand why this guy thinks he has a right to interfere in these decisions. Being alone is looking more and more inviting. At least then every decision is unanimous. My supervisor was right about that.

He just seems to have a problem respecting my boundaries and I don't know if I can deal with that. My boundary is that until I have financial responsibilities toward you and you have them toward me, you can offer advice, but if it's not taken, you shut your trap. I mean, isn't the idea in a relationship to find someone that you can accept as they are, not someone that you feel that you must change to fit what you want? Don't you need to find someone that is entirely what you want, then you build a relationship with them?

And doesn't it seem wrong to have your partner tell you that they've make mistakes and now they want to do better, and then you tell them that they will not do any better because they've previously failed to do so? I thought that in a loving relationship, you're supposed to show that you're in their corner.

I just wish I could stay calm during these discussions and not get so upset with him so I could calmly say what I need to say!!!

And to think I was actually going to let him put a piece of his furniture in my apartment…no way am I going to allow that now.

Feeling a Bit Left Out

BF had gNat last night, so he brought her over. But what bugs me about that is that we had a miscommunication about dinner last night. I thought he would be there for dinner. He gave me that impression but then he, seemingly inexplicably, did not show up.

I have to admit, when he has gNat, I feel a bit left out. Not because he has his daughter. I feel left out because he doesn't show up at my/our place until it's time for her to go to bed. She's all fussy and everything and then he wants me to try and bond with her. Well how am I going to do that? She's fussy and doesn't want me and she really just wants to go to bed. When we're at his parents' house and I try to hold her, his mom butts in and takes over. It's like she's putting me in my place.

And my place is fairly low on the totem pole. I seem to be relegated to changing diapers and holding the baby while her daddy is getting her crib set up. It seems like gNat might be getting a little more used to me, but I don't know…it's just frustrating because I feel like I'm being taken for granted.

I got some new Togs!!!!

Whoooo hoooo!!!!

Here I was, tiring of my hot pink-lined chocolate-brown Liz Claiborne bag when WHOOO!!! Out of the blue, one my New York directors brings me a brand new knock off of one VERY expensive bag!!!! :) It's sooooo loverly. I guess the brand name is Togs or something? I don't know. But it's so classy looking!! :) Good enough for this bland Midwesterner! I love it. Sometimes, being a secretary really does pay!

Especially around Christmas! Last year, I got about $300 worth of gift certificates to the newest exclusive shopping mall around here, Village Pointe. That was great. This year, maybe I'll be thin enough to actually buy some clothing or something lol. But I'm not really counting on that happening again, though. I mean, you should not count your chickens before they're hatched, and the DOSs of course are not obligated to do such generous things. If they do, that will be lovely, but if they don't, I'm not going to throw a fit.

More Recovery from the Ruin of the Financial House of Cards

Yippy skippy!
I'm a real person who can bank buy stuff online and stuff!!!!

My debit card came in the mail on Saturday and now I have my PIN. And NOW I can check out my account online! What a relief!!!!

Anyone who actually reads this, which I'm pretty sure there aren't that many, if any, will probably think that the bank was insane to give me a check card, but really!!!! I'm going to be good this time. And check this out! You can easily download your transactions right from their website, and I don't mean you have to then transcribe them to Money either. I mean you download them and Money will just import the suckers. YES! Gosh that'll make it so much easier to balance my checkbook!

Chex Systems
I almost couldn't get a bank account because I got listed with Chex systems…if any of you are reading this and you have the same problem, then go check out US Bank..they will give you a checking account if you haven't had a checking account closed against your will in the last year. www.usbank.com

Another thing you should check out, if you have been listed with these people is www.chexvictims.com. There is some good information on that site too.

Man, have I learned my lesson!!!!! I'm never paying another overdraft fee again!!!

You know what's so funny about this? BF kinda looks down on me because I'm not so hot with money, but ummmm I don't think he is either. His account is like, ALWAYS in the hole, and he never has money. I usually have to pay for things. Well, I don't mind so much though, because his ex girlfriend is sucking child support out of him for all he's worth. I do think he should pay child support, but ummm, in such an amount that the guy has to live off of $400 a month? I think that's a little excessive. Come to think of it, he wasn't that good with money even before the child support. He was busy running up his credit cards before his daughter was born and the whole shebang.

He reminds me so much of me sometimes. It's amazing. I was JUST like him at that age. Weird...

You know what might be fun?

Tracking the status of this year's Air Show Sunburn!

Ok -- day 1 was Saturday, 8/27 - initial burn. You idiot. Air Force, Marine guys, and Army guys were hot -- as well as the Bellevue swat team guys. Dayyyyyym. :o) hot enough to justify this burn? We'll see.

Day 2 - Sunday -- ohmygodthis hurts -- still beet red. Nope they weren't hot enough.
Day 3 - Monday (today) - wowthatstillhurtspleasedon'ttouchme - a little less red. Starting to itch; no blisters yet though. Why did I go to that airshow? What was I thinking? Men in uniform? Who gives a rat's ass??????

Stay tuned for day 4.