Must spruce up the ol' page

Very shortly I am going to be using this blog as a tool for my class I am currently taking. So I am finally going to take some time to spruce it up and make it look pretty. Maybe it will help me get a better grade....

So my next few posts you may find hugely interesting, or really boring. But they have to be done for my class, so take them or leave them... (but I hope you will continue to visit my page!)

October has been a good month

And its not even over with.

The month started with a much needed trip to Couer D'Alene for what is commonly referred to as "Lez Fest". Lez fest is the yearly get together of "the three amigos" (me and my two best girlfriends from college). We try to all get together once a year, rotating locations.

It was a very relaxing weekend, which was nice. We didn't do anything real exciting, but rather just sat around and caught up. I miss my girls so much, and it really sucks we all live so far away from each other. But all it takes is one weekend to remind yourself what good friendship is all about and why, no matter how far apart we live from each other, we will always be close.

I think we have all heard the addage about old friends and new friends, and while I will always cherish my old friends, its nice to make some new friends as well. This past week the DH and I spent 4 days on the Oregon coast with two other couples, of whom I will consider "new friends" of mine (the background is that all the men have been friends for ever). It was very nice to have 4 days to just relax and putz around. But admist all of it I think there was an interesting social experience. Of the three couples, the DH and I have been together the longest (6.5 years, married for 2), the engaged couple has been together 2.5 years, engaged for .5 (I believe), and then the dating couple has been together 6 months. We all got along well and enjoyed each others presence, but some of the dynamics were just interesting.

Its fair to say that being in the stages of relationships that they are, the other two couples were much more frequent with the...public displays of affection. And dont' get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with that, but as the "old married hag" (who oddly enough is the youngest of the group) it was interesting and fun to watch people who were still so passionate about each other. Who were still having fun in the "newness" of a relationship, or the "newness" of planning a wedding. At times I look at the DH and wonder why we don't act more like those guys. But from that, I realize the beauty of my own relationship. Sherman and I have never been big on the PDA, its just not our style, but what is nice is that we don't need it either. We are happy, and stable, and comfortable. And from a girl who started this blog because she constantly felt uncomfortable with her life, that is saying a lot.

It was fun spending 4 days watching these two couples in their stages of relationships. But at the end of the trip, there was no envy. I am happy being a old married hag. It took a lot of growing to get here, and being here is good. I wouldn't go back for anything.

(and the picture is not from this weekend, but this is the "three amigos".)

I'm getting sentimental in my old age

I watched the season premier of CSI tonight (thank you DVR). If you missed it, it was the follow up episode from last season when Warrick got shot (and obviously died, which we all knew was going to happen because real life Warrick - whose name escapes me at the moment- couldn't keep himself out of trouble. Or jail). So at the end of the episode they had the funeral for him and I sat on the couch and cried like I personally knew the character.

The last time I cried like that was the season finale of House when they killed off Amber.

I never used to cry at fiction. Not movies, not television, not books, nothing. But I am finding more and more all it takes is a cute commercial featuring fuzzy kittens and I get a little weepy (and I'm not even going to start on the chain-motivational-send this back to me to show me you love me- emails that always have cute photos of puppies and kittens and babies.....) But more and more I find I cry easier and easier.

I think its because I am getting older and death is just kind of falling all around me. Just a few weeks ago, a guy who worked just a few cubicles down from me died. 39 years old, a professional body builder, has a heart attack while running on the treadmill at the gym. It wasn't like I was best friends with the guy, but we talked and laughed frequently at work and I miss him lots just because he was an all around nice guy who I enjoyed talking to - mostly because we shared the gym/nutrition/weightlifting interest. But 39 years old and he was the picture of health. That is only a few years older than Sherman.

And I didn't go to his funeral. I sit here on the couch and cry at fake funerals, and yet I can't get myself to attend one for someone I know. I think its because I knew it was going to be incredibly sad, and from what people tell me, it was.

But on to something slightly happier. I took my first BodyCombat class last monday and I have to say, I really, really liked it. I don't know if I have a shot in the dark of being able to instruct it, but it was a good class. Unlike step or aerobics which I am way too uncoordinated to do, the moves in this program are not nearly as complicated. So I will take my next two classes next week and hopefully I can start to get some of this down.

And as far as my last post goes with the comment about it not feeling like fall...we are officially past that now. Its cold, I'm grumpy, and the DH has not agreed to turn on heat yet. Pooh.

Next Post: My weekend in Couer D' Alene. Lez Fest 2008.

Season's change...

Well, its finally October. The weather suggests it might still be August, but I'm not complaining.

Work issues seem to have calmed down a bit. Life is still hectic as my work load there has just tripled, but again, I'm not complaining. I am employed, which is more than several hundred people out there can say. So we are still in the midst of transition and nobody has any clue what the hell they should be doing, where they should be going, or what work is a priority to produce. We still have not really seen any new managers, but again, I am at work, and getting paid.

So lets see, other than that, I just got done with the group project from hell for my class. It wasn't really the project from hell, rather the group from hell. And through the frustration of having to deal with 3 people suffering from short timers I managed to make a really crappy (but true) comment to one of them. This is the one part about being in a "communication" program that I hate. No matter what someone does, or how crappy the work is that they produce, you gotta find a "nice" way to tell them.

I'm sorry. If I put 15 minutes of work into my part of a group project, I would hope that someone would tell me my work is crap. And yes, it will be rude, but I would deserve it.

THIS IS GRADUATE SCHOOL PEOPLE. PRODUCE GRADUATE SCHOOL LEVEL WORK. Its not rocket science, its just writing a paper. Sheesh.

So anyway, my profs have the luxury of being able to read most of our communication and were able to see where I tried to flog my team into production and failed miserably. They were kind and still gave me (us) a good grade for...well...crap work.

And so, on top of work changes, graduate school, and gym comments, I have decided to try my hand at another Les Mills program. They have a version of kickboxing that they want to bring to our gym and I have committed to doing the training for it. No matter that I have never even taken a kickboxing class, much less teach it. This should be interesting.