Race for a Cure

I think I am going to sign up for the Race for a Cure this year. I am challenging my friends to join me in this feat. I think it will be a lot of fun. Plus, its for a good cause. We could make our own team and get others involved.

National take your child to work day

This past Thursday was “National Take your Son or Daughter to work day”. My mom told me what her employer had planned and since I didn’t have to work that day I decided to stop by to help out. My mom brought her grandaughter (my niece) Alexis to work with her.

The day started out well. They had a continental breakfast and then started to learn about the different facets of the company. It wasn’t soon before I (and others) realized having kids of different ages cooped up in one room listening to what I’d say is booooooooorrrrrrring information for their age, wasn’t the most brilliant idea. After lunch all hell broke loose. By then, Alexis was ready to go home. She just sat there annoyed by these other kids. A lot of the kids were running around this conference room (mostly obnoxious older boys and a couple girls that never wanted to listen) terrorizing the younger good kids and even managing to tear up the make-shift pizza hut box. I actually wish I had taken a picture of it cause you wouldn’t have believed it. People that hadn’t seen what happened would ask “what happened to that Pizza hut?” I just said ” a tornado hit and Pizza Hut now needs to rebuild”. That was the nicest way to put it. Then there were some boys throwing hacky sacs across the room, and calling each other names, etc. However, when the kids were listening and involved, it was nice I must say. I think that is what kept the two adults in charge going and me snapping pictures. Once in a while a parent would stop in to see what was going on. Of course their son or daughter would straighten their act up when that happened. One 13 year old was told to just sit with his mother at her cubicle the rest of the day. She was a little upset from what I hear. But hey! The kid had the worst behavior (lying on the floor, burping, not listening to any adult, etc) How could she not see it honestly? The kind of parent who thinks their child never does anything wrong is a true nightmare. Honestly. I don’t get it.

I think instead of doing the 8 to 5 thing as they did this year, they should try to do only a half day in the future. Or break up the ages into different rooms somehow. Whoever invented “National take your kid to work with you” day must not have kids or understand what is required to work with them. How is it suppose to work when the children are of different ages and not being stimulated at a level they can comprehend nor are their parents actually being present on this “national day” to help out? Or how about when there are only two people in charge (both of whom do not have the tools or skills necessary to keep children in line and involved. It was CRAZY. These kids did not have the attention span for this. It was longer than a school day, and without a playground or gym for them to get their energy out. I only meant to drop in and take pictures, but I actually stayed the whole day so I could help out (they really needed it). I’m going to make a disc of the images I captured along with some movies for their memory books. Yesterday I dropped by my mom’s house. The lady who planned the event wrote a thank you letter to me. She said she would love to hear feedback on how to improve things. I think I have some thoughts to share on how to improve it.

What’s new?

signage
Originally uploaded by Eglectrik.

Well, its been a while since I have written. Not too much has changed these days. The weather started getting more spring-like even close to summer-like, but it decided it wasn’t quite ready to let go of winter ( it snowed today). Very depressing.

Overall though, things have been pretty good. I recently went to the Karmanos Cancer Institute for my breast exam and am happy to tell you all the lump was nothing to worry about. Apparently it is very common for women in their 20’s to have thicker tissue in their breasts. So there you go.

These last couple of weeks have been annoying I must say. I have been fighting a cold that like the winter weather, just wants to stick around. I mean, first it was a cold. Then I felt better but my nose began to run constantly. When I say constantly I mean like a faucet. That along with congestion and sneezing made me believe and tell people all week that I had developed an allergy (I was convinced it was pollen) because I did not feel sick. I have never been allergic to anything and after observing others for so many years who DID have allergies, I thought for sure that is what it was. So I bought tons of allergy products to alleviate it. Nothing was working. Not even antihistamines. Jeff came home from skateboarding tonight and informed me that he learned from one of his friends that what I had was some new strand of the flu and that everything I experienced was exactly what it has been doing to people (constant runny nose for like three weeks and shit) and no meds work to help. Crazy! I went through so many boxes of kleenex you guys. I went through other people’s boxes of kleenex while watching their kids. Can you believe it? If I indeed had some new strand of the flu, who knows how many kids and families I must have exposed it to while working. Poor 6 month old Alisha and her older brother in Canton, and oh so adorable and sweet 10 month old Cody in Huntington Woods, the Mayers boys in Bloomfield Hills and almost poor Caroline in Birmingham who thank goodness I was too sick to watch since it was during the week I KNEW I was sick. Aye. Aye. Aye I tell ya! Hope they are all okay is all I can say. My nose is raw from blowing but today is the first day it has sort of come to a halt. Now it is in that uncomfortable dry stage where it feels like it will bleed at the twitch of my nose. Vaseline is my saviour.

On a more positive and upbeat note, Jeff has gotten a job part-time at Spectrum Neon. He did some graphic design work for them a while back and they then asked him if he wanted to become a regular empoyee for them. Which is good for him since it is so close (in detroit) and he will now have a steady flow of money. He knew he wanted to work on the house so instead of going full-time he worked it out where he just works Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays leaving the rest of the days open for whatever. I’m not sure exactly what he does there. From the sound of it, he sits at a computer coming up with ideas for sign graphics as well as other random jobs that need to be done while also bullshitting with the fellas. He said he is referred to by one of the guys as “the handyman” since he is always seen with some type of power tool in hand. Which isn’t an uncommon thing to see Jeff with even here at home. Jeff is Jack of all trades which makes him hard to pin down. What exactly do you do there Jeff?

Today Jeff bought me (us) an iPod shuffle from the Apple store (I’m listening to it as I type this at 2 am). We were very excited to find one that was returned and 10 dollars cheaper since it had been previously opened. “Nothing is wrong with it? Hell yeah we’ll take it!” If it wasn’t for jeff’s sharp eyes we would have never seen the table in the back of the store located slightly to the right of the cash registers loaded with tons of discounted Apple products(only one ipod shuffle though). If only they had the $30 sport band shuffle holder we had to buy in addition. Hey! I need something to hold it while I go to the gym. It beats the bright yellow sponge bob cd player my mom bought me last September claiming she bought it because it “looked like me”. You know I love you mom *kiss kiss* but I don’t look like spongebob squarepants. freckles yes. Square, maybe. But yellow I am not.

Pope John Paul II

Hamtramck is historically known as being the Polish enclave of Detroit. The Pope was very dear to this community. A 10-foot statue was built to commemorate him. Since Friday many people have stopped by to pay their respects. When Jeff and I visited earlier in the evening, there was a polish man lighting each and every one of the candles that had been blown out by the wind. I thought it was a very symbolic gesture in that Pope John Paul II had lit up so many people’s lives.

On another note: Jeff’s father was interviewed about John Paul II and his impact on the U.S. Catholic community. Its a very interesting article by the Detroit News. You may read it here.

Pope Memorial

Pope Memorial
Originally uploaded by Eglectrik.

Vigils have been held all weekend at Pope Park here in Hamtramck.

Pope Park Mural Description

Pope Park Mural Description
Originally uploaded by Eglectrik.

Pope Park Mural

Pope Park Mural
Originally uploaded by Eglectrik.

A little bit of the mural.

Bodum pavina

I Love these glasses!
Originally uploaded by Eglectrik.

Last week Jeff and I finally got our very own Bodum Pavinas. We have been wanting to get them for some time now. Since before christmas we have continually checked their online store to see if they had any in stock. Despite them saying they would have more in by mid January it continued to say “Temporarily out of stock” next to their picture and description. One day I called Bodum to inquire about them. I talked to a very nice lady who wrote down my name and number(even though they aren’t supposed to) saying she would call me when they got some in stock (she said they were very popular). I never heard back from her so I again called the store back some time later. I was told they would be getting some in stock on a particular day and that they go very fast so try to check the website ASAP. As soon as I woke up that particular day I went online to check. Sure enough, for the first time I saw they had some in stock. I excitedly ordered a set of two. Two nights later I was going to make me some tea but Jeff insisted he make it for me. Wondering why he wanted so badly to make me my tea I just let him do it. He walked into the room with one of the pavinas and my mouth dropped with surprise. They arrived two days after ordering them and he got to them before I did. I was in awe. The funniest part is the day after I ordered our pair I went to look at their stock online and it was again “Temporarily out of stock!”. I just laughed and said how glad I was that we got ours.
The other evening we got a phone call. It was the lady I spoke with a month or so ago from the Bodum store. She remembered how badly I wanted the bodum glasses and told me some were available for me to order despite what the online store says. There is even a Pavina that is bigger than the size we already have that they don’t post on the website. We happiliy ordered a couple more sets of the Pavinas for future visitors to use. All the more reason for you to come visit now!