10.25.10

Rave

Intelligence. Oooo, I love intelligent people. Especially when they engage me in conversation. They challenge my thoughts, they make me aware of things I'd typically either ignore due to "not hearing correctly" or be too lazy to look up. They share history with me, they share meanings of Latin word derivations with me, they simply talk ... and I listen. And I don't listen to everyone! But intelligent people rock. And I'd just like to say I love that you talk to me. Thank you, Smarty Pantz!

Raunt

Airplane seat belts. I'm not goin' too far with this other than to say you suck when you should stick, you pinch when you should cinch, and you are ugly. Even your buckles are dull. I hate you airplane seat belts.

10.20.2010 (oh what a lovely symmetrical set of numbers)

Raunt

Car problems. Geez I hate it when I have car problems. Could be a smallie: oil change; could be a biggie: sliced open the oil pan (yup! done that). But whatever it is, it's a pain in the tooshie. My current issue is a sunroof that doesn't stay closed. It's decided to have a mind of it's own, and springs back open *just* as it's closed. Irritating as all get-out (no, I don't really know what that expression means). And to fix it? Well, I read the manual and did what *they* say, but that didn't fix it. I Googled the issue, that helped with suggestions, but none of them worked. I made an appointment at the repair shop, but they were too busy. So now I wait for free time and no-drive time and loose a day or two of car-convenience to spend, no doubt, $200+ to get it fixed. Oooooo, I hate car problems!

Rave

Nephews who so very kindly point out that you are, in fact, wrong or well, mistaken. Oh yeah, it happens to every aunt. WE ARE WRONG. Granted, it rarely happens. But it just happened to me with an attitude I had about Twitter. I felt like it would be annoying and completely unhelpful in my work to be on Twitter. I monitor Facebook, I monitor a Blog. I have coworkers who not only could care less about either, but get a little angry that I spend any time on them at all (even though, HELLO!, I'm a marketing person!). So thinking about Twitter made me a-skitter. Had I ever really read about Twitter? No. Had I ever really seen a tweet? No. My ignorance was not bliss, and a nephew very calmly explained why it may behoove me to change-up on my Twitter-Ttude. He explained how it worked, and then (cue music) explained how it would help my business and help us establish a reputation for being 'on the cutting edge' of staying in touch. 

I was being rude. I was being stubborn. I WAS WRONG. Ooo, I now love my new TwitterTtude!

10.17.10

Raunt

People who speed up when you put on your blinker to change lanes. What IS that all about? Get a life people! Cars change lanes. It's a fact of life. Did you know that life changes lanes on you, too, sometimes? Yeah, it does. Deal with it. There will always be reasons to be polite and yield. Use traffic as a life metaphor for pete's sake: be nice, you'll live longer!

Rave

Car conversations. What is it about having a conversation in a car? Maybe it's the lack of eye contact, maybe it's the noise of the wind, maybe it's the spirit of ongoing movement. Whatever it is, it's amazing how you can have really great conversations with your passengers while driving. You can have THE talk and well, it's just easier. You can have a tender talk, and then they can't see'ya cry, or you can simply have an animated talk and use the steering wheel as a sounding board. Whatever you do, it's just a good way to exclaim . . . without being overwhelmed. Love those car conversations!

10.7.2010

Raunt

Messy restaurant restrooms. Eeuuww! Messy bathrooms period are a drag, and by messy, I don't mean the occasional cat-torn-toilet-paper-on-the-floor messy. I mean the "oh boy, whazz'at on the floor" kinda messy. But when you're in a restaurant, and you need to use the loo, and loo seems to be screaming "boo!" well, that's just scary. Today I went to a lovely new spot for lunch, quite chic, quite urban, and moderately expensive, but the bathrooom was frightening ... right down to the torn-off-real-lock-substituted-with-a-hook-n-latch-lock. Really? Add that to the super bad water pressure that made the go-go a no-go and well, let's just say that I was thrilled to have the experience after the meal or it woulda been an appetite killer. Hate messy restrooms!

Rave

People who can keep the conversation moving. At the same surprise lunch today, friends and I were were laughing and talking and talking and sighing and sighing and exclaiming and exclaiming and eating and eating and planning and planning to eat more :) Phew! All good, every minute, every bite, every word. What a joy to be out to lunch and find that you all have so much to say, you hardly get much said at all because you're trying to squeeze 15 conversations into each 15 minutes! It was a blast, and I so appreciated being with people who kept the talk buzzin'. Love conversation movers!

10.6.2010

Raunt

Using the word 'troops' while reporting. I don't get it. I wake up to the news often and the reporters are always talking about 'troops' dying. Then they go on to say that 6 troops died in a roadside attack. When I think of troops, I think of multitudes. Like an army. Fairly vague, lotta peeps, lotta uniforms, no real faces. But apparently *they* (you know, the big, invisible *they*) must think that we can't hear war personalized down to an individual and their name, thus they do not say the truth like "6 soldiers, Joe Smith from Ham Lake, Jack Smith, Bob Smith, Bill Smith from St. Paul, and Charlie Smith, Derrick Smith from Minneapolis died." It's harder to hear that personalized truth, but it is the truth. And truth about war is ugly. In my opinion, soldiers and the civilians who die deserve to be named. And we deserve the hurt while hearing those names since we're the ones who put them in harms way in the first place with our decision to go to war. It's ugly. You can't hide from the truth.

Rave

Geraniums. Geraniums were, I think, one of my mom's favorite flowers. She liked to paint them, I know that. I have a few around my house, and I'm in awe at their tenacity to just keep growing. Sun-in, sun-out. Hot-in, cold-out. They just keep growing. Those little cluster of petals create lacelike shadows in my dining room, too. Pretty, colorful, lacey. What a flower to rave about! Love geraniums!

9.30.10

Raunt

Elevator button placement. I mean the 'call this elevator' button. Why can you only push the elevator button when you get right TO the elevator? Why can't you push it immediately upon leaving a room down the long hall before you get to the elevator? Wouldn't that be nifty? Then, when you get to the elevator, it would be there—like magic! Love magic, hate last minute buttons!

Rave

SBD's. Because they make you laugh. Coming from a puppy or a person, when an SBD enters the territory, you just have to smile. Love that!

9.29.10

Raunt

Passwords. Oh man, I hate that technology has introduced a new way to have "senior moments" all day long by requiring passwords. Passwords to log-on, passwords to remind, passwords to reset a password, passwords for email, passwords for blogs! I try to use the same password often, but 'cha can't because there are password rules. Today I used a service that had a password checklist! Yup, a checklist: letters, numbers, a punctuation mark, etc. The checklist told me when to stop. It was too much. I hate being instructed on how to make up a password!

Rave

Hot water bottles. Yeah, they're old fashioned. Yeah, when they cool off if your feet hit'em in the middle of the night it's stinks, but ooo, when you are crawling into bed and you have a 2'x2' square of warm sheet(s) due to a toasty hot water bottle warm-up, it's a lil'slice o'heaven. Or what I hope heaven will be. I love hot water bottles!