The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
I think she meant it as a compliment...
One of the ladies who works in my office asked me where I was from. Here's our dialogue:
Her (in a deep Southern accent) - Julie, where are you from?
Me (in a pure, Midwestern accent) - Originally Michigan, but I haven't lived there for 10 years. I've lived a lot of places since then. Why?
Her - I thought you might be from around here.
Me - Oh really? We have been here for almost two years. (Here being the South with all of its drawling glory, grits, and fried chicken.)
Her - Yeah, it sounds like it. I reckon your accent is just like ours.
Her (in a deep Southern accent) - Julie, where are you from?
Me (in a pure, Midwestern accent) - Originally Michigan, but I haven't lived there for 10 years. I've lived a lot of places since then. Why?
Her - I thought you might be from around here.
Me - Oh really? We have been here for almost two years. (Here being the South with all of its drawling glory, grits, and fried chicken.)
Her - Yeah, it sounds like it. I reckon your accent is just like ours.
Small Change Tuesday
In the April 2009 issue of Real Simple, it talks about PUR Packets. They're little powder packets that help clean water into drinking water for people all over the world. The little packets are $.10 each and it cleans enough drinking water for a child for 5 days. For a DOLLAR, you can give fresh water to a child for 50 days! That's pretty cool! No new wells need to be built, this just cleans the water.
Check it out at csdw.org (Think Children's Safe Drinking Water).
Check it out at csdw.org (Think Children's Safe Drinking Water).
Monday, March 23, 2009
I'm beginning to come around
It took me a while to get into hip-hop (remember my rant a year and a half ago... sorry all...). I don't know what it is, but I started watching America's Best Dance Crew with my sister and bro-in-law, and I was addicted.
This just boggles my mind. Every time I watch it, I have a new favorite part. I do think the Tutting has got me though...
This just boggles my mind. Every time I watch it, I have a new favorite part. I do think the Tutting has got me though...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Jessica Jones Fabric - in a store!!
Jessica Jones, of "How About Orange" fame (and one of my sister's best friends), has designed some really cool fabric. I saw it for the first time in person the other day - it looks even better in person than it does on screen.
(sorry for the bad close-up...)
Eco-conscious sub-conscious?
The other night I had a dream where I dreamt about people throwing plastic spoons out of windows into a river (I don't remember the logistics, just the effect). I pleaded them to stop, as it was a big waste and bad for the river. They replied they liked watching how the spoons fell. I didn't think that I was feeling THAT bad about using a new plastic spoon for my daily yogurt. Apparently I feel very bad about it. I'll be bringing my own, re-cleanable, re-usable spoons from now on.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
We found out.
The detailer called CO this weekend. Yes, this weekend. We're heading east. This position wasn't in our top 5 choices, but I think it will be good. I will get to hang out with some of my friends I haven't seen in a while.
At least we know.
At least we know.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Stop a second...
... life is short, sometimes a lot shorter than it should be.
so just stop for a minute and tell your family and friends that you love them and appreciate them.
so just stop for a minute and tell your family and friends that you love them and appreciate them.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Talk about efficiency!
I'm liking my new role at work. It's a lot less individual responsibility - as in if I don't do my filing one day, I can do it the next day - which makes it way more laid back. It's less intellectually stimulating, but that's kind of nice as I have seemingly overloaded on my personal life these days.
My goal when we returned to the South from Australia was to actually take part in life here. So that I did. I signed up for a women's Bible study through church. I signed up for a sewing class through Community Education (a fantastic deal that made my Dutch heart swell with pride). Then, my sewing class was cancelled due to funding issues. I then decided to take a Hawaiian class online. Then after the protestations of the community, my Community Education class was reinstated. Yeah. So in a matter of a few weeks I went from being unemployed with few responsibilites to working 40 hours a week, having class two nights a week plus an online class! Holy cannolli! Not to mention CO's basketball team is in the finals of the intramural basketball league (against some underclassmen some 10 years younger) so one night a week he plays basketball. I, the doting wife that I am, go to watch his team play. Add to that church on the weekends, trying to meet up with friends, and trying to explore the region a bit... free time is non-existent.
Anyway, back to my story...
At work, I file reports. And I mail back slides and tissue samples (for lack of a better phrasing) from cases where our pathologists are outside consultants. Today, I learned how to do the send-backs and was given a huge pile of them. In addition, I received 3 packages of send-backs that were returned to us due to incorrect addresses (yes, the send-backs were sent back... to us). I went about calling the appropriate people and getting the correct addresses for the first two packages and then I noticed the last package was addressed to the Veterans hospital. The Veterans hospital on our same campus. Hmm. We had the wrong address on it? I can pretty much see the destination building from my office. We had paid the USPS to take it out of our building and give it back to us, not delivering it some place that we could have walked to.
My response:
1. I need to find the correct address
2. I need to get the package to the correct address
Ok, so I called the number on the paperwork to get the correct address for the Veterans hospital. I waited for the operator to transfer me to the pathology department there. A poor resident answered the phone but had no clue of where to send the slides. She then gave me two other numbers to call to verify the address. I then called one of the numbers and they told me the proper address, but asked why we had paid money and not just used the campus mail system. Oh, because I didn't know that we could use the campus mail system, I replied. (And I didn't send the first package either...) She said that she could send something to us via campus mail, but she wasn't sure if we could send things to her via campus mail.
I then called our post office. The first person had no idea what I was talking about. They put me on hold. I then waited for about three minutes. Not on hold, but where you can tell the person just put the phone down (not hung up, just set it on their desk or chair) and walked away. I was beginning to give up hope, thinking that I would have to call back. Just when I was about to hang up, a postal worker picked up and talked to me about campus mail. He said that I could indeed mail something to the Veterans clinic as long as I put it in a blue envelope and put it in a specific mail box. Cool. Cool other than the fact that what I need to send doesn't fit in the blue interdepartmental envelope. And you know, if it's not in the right envelope it could throw them off. I then asked if I could still put the package in the specific mail box but packaged in a box, not the blue envelope. I waited a really long time again and they finally came up with the fact that I indeed am able to put a non-interdepartmental-specific envelope/box in the correct mail box and it will indeed go to the Veterans clinic.
Yeah. In the time that I spent on hold/being transferred in order to answer two questions about mailing some slides, I could have walked to the hospital and back to my office. I might have been able to have stopped for some coffee along the way.
Oh how I love bureaucracies.
My goal when we returned to the South from Australia was to actually take part in life here. So that I did. I signed up for a women's Bible study through church. I signed up for a sewing class through Community Education (a fantastic deal that made my Dutch heart swell with pride). Then, my sewing class was cancelled due to funding issues. I then decided to take a Hawaiian class online. Then after the protestations of the community, my Community Education class was reinstated. Yeah. So in a matter of a few weeks I went from being unemployed with few responsibilites to working 40 hours a week, having class two nights a week plus an online class! Holy cannolli! Not to mention CO's basketball team is in the finals of the intramural basketball league (against some underclassmen some 10 years younger) so one night a week he plays basketball. I, the doting wife that I am, go to watch his team play. Add to that church on the weekends, trying to meet up with friends, and trying to explore the region a bit... free time is non-existent.
Anyway, back to my story...
At work, I file reports. And I mail back slides and tissue samples (for lack of a better phrasing) from cases where our pathologists are outside consultants. Today, I learned how to do the send-backs and was given a huge pile of them. In addition, I received 3 packages of send-backs that were returned to us due to incorrect addresses (yes, the send-backs were sent back... to us). I went about calling the appropriate people and getting the correct addresses for the first two packages and then I noticed the last package was addressed to the Veterans hospital. The Veterans hospital on our same campus. Hmm. We had the wrong address on it? I can pretty much see the destination building from my office. We had paid the USPS to take it out of our building and give it back to us, not delivering it some place that we could have walked to.
My response:
1. I need to find the correct address
2. I need to get the package to the correct address
Ok, so I called the number on the paperwork to get the correct address for the Veterans hospital. I waited for the operator to transfer me to the pathology department there. A poor resident answered the phone but had no clue of where to send the slides. She then gave me two other numbers to call to verify the address. I then called one of the numbers and they told me the proper address, but asked why we had paid money and not just used the campus mail system. Oh, because I didn't know that we could use the campus mail system, I replied. (And I didn't send the first package either...) She said that she could send something to us via campus mail, but she wasn't sure if we could send things to her via campus mail.
I then called our post office. The first person had no idea what I was talking about. They put me on hold. I then waited for about three minutes. Not on hold, but where you can tell the person just put the phone down (not hung up, just set it on their desk or chair) and walked away. I was beginning to give up hope, thinking that I would have to call back. Just when I was about to hang up, a postal worker picked up and talked to me about campus mail. He said that I could indeed mail something to the Veterans clinic as long as I put it in a blue envelope and put it in a specific mail box. Cool. Cool other than the fact that what I need to send doesn't fit in the blue interdepartmental envelope. And you know, if it's not in the right envelope it could throw them off. I then asked if I could still put the package in the specific mail box but packaged in a box, not the blue envelope. I waited a really long time again and they finally came up with the fact that I indeed am able to put a non-interdepartmental-specific envelope/box in the correct mail box and it will indeed go to the Veterans clinic.
Yeah. In the time that I spent on hold/being transferred in order to answer two questions about mailing some slides, I could have walked to the hospital and back to my office. I might have been able to have stopped for some coffee along the way.
Oh how I love bureaucracies.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Darfur - Please help!!
I'm pretty behind on world events lately, but I know some people in Sudan and they've been talking about this lately, so I thought I'd look into it and whoa!
Last Wednesday, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan's arrest. President Omar al-Bashir responded by kicking some major aid and humanitarian groups out of the country. These groups provide peace-keeping as well as food and water supplies. I've read that a MILLION people could be without food and water without these groups. And it won't take long.
My friend sent a mass email out and said this (I paraphrased some words so it isn't searchable):
It has made a desperate situation in Darfur brought even more to the brink. Many MANY people (thousands upon thousands) living there are currently living in refugee camps that are supplied and run by these various aid organizations. The people have now had supplies halted and been stripped of any communication items (radios, phones, computers, etc.). Those people who have returned to Khartoum (the capital city) from there in these last couple of days are estimating that if nothing changes (if the government does not reinstate these aid groups or chooses to do nothing themselves, which is incredibly likely), these camps will be out of food supplies in about ONE WEEK and out of water in about TWO WEEKS. There will be hundreds of thousands of people on the western edge of this country simply being starved out in the desert or trying to move themselves across the desert to get out of the country.
Please read more about the situation - I've found some good information at the Save Darfur website - they have lots of different articles there from various sources. You can also send letters to Secretary Clinton or a postcard to President Obama through their website. Just googling Darfur will also bring up some good information.
My friends suggested that we contact whoever we can about this - write your senators, your congressperson, President Obama, your governor, local media, churches, and whoever else you can think of and ask them to report on Darfur and find out what is going on. I'm not sure what more we can do, other than writing these people and praying about it. If I can figure anything out, I'll let you know.
Please do what you can!!
Last Wednesday, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan's arrest. President Omar al-Bashir responded by kicking some major aid and humanitarian groups out of the country. These groups provide peace-keeping as well as food and water supplies. I've read that a MILLION people could be without food and water without these groups. And it won't take long.
My friend sent a mass email out and said this (I paraphrased some words so it isn't searchable):
It has made a desperate situation in Darfur brought even more to the brink. Many MANY people (thousands upon thousands) living there are currently living in refugee camps that are supplied and run by these various aid organizations. The people have now had supplies halted and been stripped of any communication items (radios, phones, computers, etc.). Those people who have returned to Khartoum (the capital city) from there in these last couple of days are estimating that if nothing changes (if the government does not reinstate these aid groups or chooses to do nothing themselves, which is incredibly likely), these camps will be out of food supplies in about ONE WEEK and out of water in about TWO WEEKS. There will be hundreds of thousands of people on the western edge of this country simply being starved out in the desert or trying to move themselves across the desert to get out of the country.
Please read more about the situation - I've found some good information at the Save Darfur website - they have lots of different articles there from various sources. You can also send letters to Secretary Clinton or a postcard to President Obama through their website. Just googling Darfur will also bring up some good information.
My friends suggested that we contact whoever we can about this - write your senators, your congressperson, President Obama, your governor, local media, churches, and whoever else you can think of and ask them to report on Darfur and find out what is going on. I'm not sure what more we can do, other than writing these people and praying about it. If I can figure anything out, I'll let you know.
Please do what you can!!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Happy Girls Day and I'm sorry I neglected you...
... oh blog of mine... kind of.
Let's see here... This is the rundown of my life as of now.
- I ended my temp work in the pediatric pathology department, but not without a few good stories first. I'll start a new assignment next Monday - doing what, I'm not quite sure.
- My niece was born! Her name is Isabella Addison. Who knew they gave her Addison after the Wrigley Field L stop? That's pretty sweet. Isabella's nice too, but my mom's having problems remembering her nickname, "Isa" (pronounced EE-sah, almost sounds like "pizza"). I'm hanging out there with my sister and her family for the week. It's been fun spending time with my sister, seeing the new baby and laughing with my other nieces (my brother in law is pretty cool too).
- We still don't know where we're going. And we might be moving in two months. Swell. It's kind of humorous as I was calculating the possibilites of where we could be in 90 days. We could be moving to the West Coast, to the middle part of the East Coast, to the Southern part of the East Coast, or to the Gulf of Mexico Coast. Uh... no long-term planning for me. But then again, I still haven't unpacked all of our boxes from our last few moves. Oh, and there's my stuff at my parents' house. Maybe I should get that from them one day, right Dad??
- I miss Hawaii and Australia a lot. I definitely feel some ties to both of those places (unlike other places where I've lived) and I strongly desire to go back. The beauty of the Coast Guard is that we could maybe get close to living in those places again, and if not, we can move there once CO retires (and that could be a reasonable time away). I just have to hold on until then.
- There's a great Girls Day sale going on at Sig Zane. I just have to figure out what to buy. I love that store.
- CO is doing well in school. He's quite the scholar and I'm going to miss seeing the student side of him. He wasn't sure how many credits would transfer from Australia, so he overloaded on classes this quarter and moved his permanent address to the library. In the end, he did better than he thought he was going to do in at least two of his classes this quarter - I'm really proud of him. Next quarter will hopefully be easier for him. That doesn't necessarily mean that I'll see more of him though as the house we're living in now is less than a half of a mile away from a golf course...
Let's see here... This is the rundown of my life as of now.
- I ended my temp work in the pediatric pathology department, but not without a few good stories first. I'll start a new assignment next Monday - doing what, I'm not quite sure.
- My niece was born! Her name is Isabella Addison. Who knew they gave her Addison after the Wrigley Field L stop? That's pretty sweet. Isabella's nice too, but my mom's having problems remembering her nickname, "Isa" (pronounced EE-sah, almost sounds like "pizza"). I'm hanging out there with my sister and her family for the week. It's been fun spending time with my sister, seeing the new baby and laughing with my other nieces (my brother in law is pretty cool too).
- We still don't know where we're going. And we might be moving in two months. Swell. It's kind of humorous as I was calculating the possibilites of where we could be in 90 days. We could be moving to the West Coast, to the middle part of the East Coast, to the Southern part of the East Coast, or to the Gulf of Mexico Coast. Uh... no long-term planning for me. But then again, I still haven't unpacked all of our boxes from our last few moves. Oh, and there's my stuff at my parents' house. Maybe I should get that from them one day, right Dad??
- I miss Hawaii and Australia a lot. I definitely feel some ties to both of those places (unlike other places where I've lived) and I strongly desire to go back. The beauty of the Coast Guard is that we could maybe get close to living in those places again, and if not, we can move there once CO retires (and that could be a reasonable time away). I just have to hold on until then.
- There's a great Girls Day sale going on at Sig Zane. I just have to figure out what to buy. I love that store.
- CO is doing well in school. He's quite the scholar and I'm going to miss seeing the student side of him. He wasn't sure how many credits would transfer from Australia, so he overloaded on classes this quarter and moved his permanent address to the library. In the end, he did better than he thought he was going to do in at least two of his classes this quarter - I'm really proud of him. Next quarter will hopefully be easier for him. That doesn't necessarily mean that I'll see more of him though as the house we're living in now is less than a half of a mile away from a golf course...
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