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Attention Men. Do not read this particular post. It has information for women and will (probably) gross you out.
I have never been able to keep track of my menstrual cycle. Whenever I go to the doctor, and they ask the inevitable 'when was your last period,' I have to give a ball-park figure. If it weren't for PMS, I would be utterly surprised when my period actually started.
I've always been somewhat in awe of women who know, practically to the hour, when their last period started and when their next period is expected. For a brief while, I tried putting stars on the Big Day on my calendar.
Then I realized that I don't actually look at my calendar that often. So it didn't really work.
I am happy to say that those days are long gone.
Today, in my spare time, I found this marvelous website.
You enter the first date of your last 2 periods (lucky for me those days were Christmas Day and last Tuesday...thus easy to remember) and then it will send you an email to alert you of your upcoming period.
You can set it up so that it will send an email up to 10 days before your period. I chose to receive the email 1 day before because, honestly, I dread it enough already.
And, when it is time to start trying for a little one, I can have it send me an email 1 day before my most fertile day(s).
This modern technology. Finally it is put to a good use.
I can remember watching the Winter Olympics in my junior year of college.
My house-mates and I were rooting for Michelle Kwan. We wanted her to win the gold because she's cute, she seems nice and, let's face it, she got screwed in the whole Kerrigan-Harding broo-ha-ha.
You know that moment, when the skater is gliding backwards, looking over their shoulder, and obviously preparing for an imminent jump? Well, whenever one of those moments began for any of Kwan's competitors we launched these gummy-things at the television.
I guess we were hoping the smack of the gummy-thing against the tv screen would somehow throw the skater off and cause them to fall.
And I don't even think we were drunk when we were doing this.
Unfortunately, it didn't work. Kwan lost. Hughes won. We were disappointed.
I was tempted to try this strategy again tonight during the "State of the Union." Especially whenever Bush dared to downplay the death in Iraq. Or suggested nuclear power (yet again) as the cure-all to our energy problems.
Or whenever he got that smug look on his face.
But, luckily, I didn't have to resort to the throwing-the-gummy-thing-at-the-tv strategy. Because this was Bush's last State of the Union address. (Yea!!!)
And it doesn't really matter what he thinks anymore.
Barack Obama talking about Clinton politics on This Week.
He says that, because of Clinton, we can no longer have a "sensible dialogue" about the environment, for example.
Is he talking about Hillary Clinton? No. He's talking about Bill Clinton.
Funny, I thought it was Hillary, not Bill, running for President.
Obama says he is the candidate of change and I suppose he's right.
Because he has changed the identity of his opponent.
I have a complaint to make.
I realize that this blog, of late, has been mostly a litany of complaints. Honestly, I am a happy person. Even when I'm bitchy, like today, I am happy. But something has been building in me and I have to let it out.
I went to college and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science. I did this because I care about the environment and I wanted to have a profession in which I could do some good. Make a difference. Heal the world and make it a better place.
For you and for me and the entire human race.
Since graduating from college, I have held a variety of jobs. Two "real" jobs at non-profits and some temporary positions in between. Needless to say, I have been on a number of interviews. Time after time, I am asked if I have any "business" experience. Or I'm told that they are really seeking someone with a background in "communications."
In other words, people with science backgrounds need not apply.
It seems like most environmental groups would rather hire a marketing person and teach them about the issues instead of hiring an environmental person and teaching them about marketing.
Every time I was told this, I flash-backed to the various 3-hour science labs I endured all through college.
Biochemistry.
Inorganic chemistry.
Microbiology.
Phycology.
I think about those awful, painful courses and wonder what it was all worth. I could have been sitting in an hour-long lecture on business models instead. I could have taken a course on the history of the radio to satisfy a communications major.
I'm not saying that a Business or Marketing or Communication major is easy for everybody. I am saying it would have been easy(er) for me.
But I didn't think that a major in one of those fields would open doors for me in the environmental field. So, I struggled through the science.
And what, exactly, do I have to show for it? Put me up against some Business-major people I know who have been working for environmental firms or magazines. Who, in that light, is the more successful?
Not me.
The salt in the wound is that they make far more money (and actually have benefits!) than I ever made working at a non-profit.
So, I had an idea. Perhaps the doors to the environmental field are not open to people with environmental backgrounds but that doesn't mean I can't somehow sneak in the back.
Today I interviewed for a receptionist position at a company that will remain nameless (pending results from the interview). This company is an "environmental" company in central Little Rock.
During this interview, I was told, in so many words, that I was overqualified. I have a degree in Environmental Science....why do I want to be "just" a receptionist? Aren't I going to be using my degree sometime in the future?
I wanted to scream.
"Yes!" (I screamed in my head), "I'd love to use my degree. I'd love to put those 4 years of experience to the test. But, the environmental community has decided that actual schooling in this area is now a mark in the Con Column. So here I am. Applying to be a receptionist. Hoping for a piece of the organic tofu pie. Give it to me. I'll do a good job."
Instead, I once again had to downplay the importance/difficulty of my degree. I said that I didn't want to be in science. I said that my degree really has no impact on my job search. I said I'd love to be a receptionist.
And I did that all before the cock crowed for the third time.
New year, new perspective. New lease-on-life. Blah. Blah. Blah.
New picture.
In honor of Oregon, my until-recent home, I updated my picture to that of a dahlia. In case you did not know it, and there is no reason you should, Oregon is the #1 dahlia grower in the country (world?) and I took this photo at a farm in that great state.
But that was the past and this is the present. Onward and upward (or southern-ward as it were).
This is a new year.
I've got a new relationship (a husband vs a fiance), a new apartment, new crap to fill it with, a new career goal, a new winter coat and, of course, a new obsession.
It seems like every year I have something to obsess over. Last year it was money.
The year I graduated from college it was farm animals (can't explain it in this post but I'll be sure to elaborate in a future one).
One particularly golden year in elementary school it was Bonnie Bell lip gloss.
This year is a two-fer. Women's literature and sugar-free Jelly Bellies. The women's lit thing....I don't know how to explain except to say that this year I have read The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs and The Friendship Test by Elizabeth Noble.
Two books may not seem like an obsession to you but I've read those books in 20 days. While looking for employment. And unpacking. And studying.
Neither of these books are my norm. The thought of women's lit always gave me a rash. Don't get me wrong...I love Bridget Jones's Diary the MOVIE. I couldn't get past page 1 of the book.
And if you tell me that Jane Austen is in the Women's Lit genre I'll force you to listen to Renee Zellweger's British accent ad nauseam.
But for some reason both of these books struck a cord with me at this time in my life. I've already purchased my next book....Knitting Under the Influence by Claire LaZebnik.
As for sugar-free Jelly Bellies, that one is easy to explain.
I love Jelly Bellies. I should stop eating so much sugar. Hence, sugar-free Jelly Bellies.
That's my life in 2008....sugary books and sugar-free candy.
I know, I haven't posted in months and now I'm about to post twice in one day. But watching Mike Huckabee on Leno tonight has spurred me to action.
The unbelievable rise of Huckabee in the past month has been a seriously disturbing development for me and many other Arkansans. I cannot quite believe that he has suddenly become so popular. And that people are actually considering voting for the guy! It is absurd!
I can't even begin to list my reasons for hating Mike Huckabee and all he stands for. Wouldn't know whether to start with his bigotry, his ignorance or his self-importance. So, I'll let Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times do it for me. Read this article....you won't find any of this information in the mainstream media.
And after you read it...share it. Because we simply cannot have another four (or, good heavens, eight!) years of someone unwilling to take responsibility for their mistakes.
Because if Mike Huckabee becomes president there will be mistakes aplenty.
I could make a ton of excuses for why I haven't blogged in a while. But I won't. Instead, I'll make five.
1. I got married.
2. I went on my honeymoon.
3. I moved across the country.
4. I went to New York for Christmas.
5. I didn't have internet for 2-ish weeks.
So, there you have it. I'm sure I'll expand on each of those excuses in later posts but I'm going to take this opportunity to complain about something totally unrelated instead.
I love New York. I might even heart New York. I lived there for a year and, despite the fact that I became an Erin-cicle while there, I loved it. I love the mountains, Wegman's, the crazy accents and, occasionally, the snow.
I do not love the toll roads.
Being from the south, I simply do not understand the necessity for toll roads. I always find myself marveling at the fact that I just paid $5 dollars to drive on a road that looks exactly like any road in Arkansas....the only difference being that the road in Arkansas is FREE.
(Yes, we pay taxes for highway improvement but an added sales tax is far less painful than forking over cold hard cash.)
I don't think I've ever passed through a toll booth without having a close encounter with a large vehicle as 50 or so cars and trucks try to slow down and merge in to 3 lanes suddenly. After that harrowing experience comes the long wait to the actual toll booth. And always, (ALWAYS!) I find myself thanking the toll-booth-person as I pay for the privilege to use their bumpy highway. I can't seem to stop myself.
Everyone knows that those tolls are actually paying for the ever so convenient "travel plazas" that dot the landscape along any major highway in New York. They look like little ski lodges filled with Big Boys, Sbarro's and Starbucks. Unfortunately, they are also full of people who seem to think that driving on a road for an hour or two is a good enough reason to gorge oneself on fast food.
Give me a sketchy truck stop any day. At least Flying J's and TA's don't attempt to be something more than what they are. And what they are is a good excuse to stop and gorge oneself on junk food.
It cost nearly $10 to drive one-way on Route 90 this Christmas. I'm not very good with math but even I know that $20 dollars can buy a lot of something-better if it hadn't already been spent on a road.
But I guess $20 is a small price to pay for spending Christmas with new family members and a chance (a better-than-usual chance) of a White Christmas.
