The Hunger Project

I started thinking about charity and finding a new organization to make a donation. After enjoying a gluttonous few days at Christmas and watching (somewhat horrified) a few episodes of Man v. Food, I decided to find a charity centered around ending hunger.

I have watched Man v. Food previously and any enjoyment the show had once provided me has been replaced with a feeling of disgust. I'm speaking only for myself and not to make anyone feel badly for enjoying the show... it's just that I can't watch someone stuff himself so that, once completed, an entire mid section of a cow has been consumed.

I also wonder about the host's health. I read an interview he gave to ESPN (I think) a few years ago. He said he works out a lot and stays fit, but he's definitely a big boy. What sort of long-term damage will this cause?

Anyway, the whole idea of one person eating much more than they need is really the catalyst for a hunger-ending charity donation.

Just today, I saw an article from the Times about a woman whose goal is to reach 1,000 pounds. At Christmas she ate a 30,000 calorie meal. Ridiculous! Her goal, which is now a career, will probably kill her.

I just want to scream. What is wrong with a society that encourages this? UGH.

So.

I'm going to do something, little, as it may be... it's something. I found the The Hunger Project though the American Institute of Philanthropy's charity rating. They gave the organization an A, and I've been moved to action by HP's principles.

This organization promotes ending hunger through teaching sustainable methods, and in doing so, empowers people to make the changes at a grass roots level. (I'm in love.) It brings me back to Introduction to Women's Studies in college. This organization's mission and principles might not be for everyone, but it's struck a chord with me. I'll continue to research other organizations out there, but this one has caught my interest particularly... and clearly enough to write about it.

When your email is hacked.

My oldest email account was hacked a few weeks ago sending spam to all of my contacts. ALL of my contacts. Every person/email address I deemed important enough to save as a contact since the time I created the account in 2002.

The first person to notify me was a friend from high school, who, thanks to facebook we're 'friends'. Though, funnily enough, she texted me and I didn't have her number stored. So my first thought was it was a hoax/part of the scam. Nope.

The next day I heard from the recruiter at my company who I'd corresponded with a few years ago in applying for my current job. Ugh. And shortly after that, I received another half dozen forwards that looked something like this:

Hey Lany,

Not sure if you knew this, but your hotmail is sending out this message. It looked odd to me, is it legit?

And some even continued to say 'I tried to click the link, too.'

PEOPLE:
1) Don't forward me spam.
2) DON'T CLICK THE LINK.
3) Offer a possible solution.

Since my now preferred email address was also saved as one of my contacts, I received the spam messages, all 5 or so of them. (I never clicked the link.)

Here's a rundown of who I think got the spam:

- Craigslist people from whom I bought furniture
- The Clark Alumni Association
- People who responded to my own craigslist adds for rugby recruitment
- My grandparents' email address, which goes unchecked now
- Guys I used to correspond with from match.com and jdate.com when I lived in upstate NY
- And perhaps women I've corresponded with more recently (recently as in 3 years ago) also from match.com

I've now changed my password, deleted all the stored contacts, and closed the email account.

My next project is clearing out my gmail contacts. All 500+ of them.

The world doesn't revolve around the US of A

I experienced that feeling where you realize that the world doesn't revolve around the United States.

I know that sounds harsh and ignorant, and coming from someone who is educated and listens to NPR every morning, this reaction surprised myself.

The women's rugby world cup kicks off in a few days in England. 13 games will be televised by Sky Sports in the UK. Their schedule reveals they'll show the Wales v Australia, New Zealand v South Africa, England v Ireland, France v Scotland, New Zealand v Australia, England v Khazakhstan, New Zealand v Wales, and Australia v South Africa matches as well as the semi-finals and final matches (teams to be determined).

Understanding that rugby in the United States is not as popular as American football or even baseball, or even soccer, and that women's rugby is even less so... and (unfortunately) I don't think the Eagles are favored to win (NOT my opinion!, just sayin') -- I was still surprised that their matches won't be shown on Sky. They are in the same bracket as England and Ireland, so I thought maybe those would be aired.

Luckily, the President of USA Rugby has confirmed that Universal Sports will broadcast some of the US Eagles matches AND it looks like all matches in the world cup will be available through the IRB's website.

In all honesty, I don't think you can get Sky Sports here -- well, I can't with the cable I currently have. It was just one of those moments that made me go 'wow. no kidding.' And I'm reminded that the world doesn't revolve around the US... nor does the women's world cup revolve around the US Eagles.

A few of us in Boston will likely be gathering to watch US matches projected onto a wall in someone's living room... or hopefully at PJ Ryan's (Teele Square, Somerville) on Sunday, August 29th (streamed on demand after their England and Ireland matches have occurred).

Saturday's a Rugby Day

This is my mantra beginning today and and will last through May 23.

Then it will be my mantra on and off during the summer (I am determined to play 7's this summer, though my position is not actually on the field in 7's, but a flank turned lock can dream, can't she?).

Four years ago, I hadn't even heard this phrase and if I did, it wouldn't mean anything to me. Seriously, who cares?

But this has changed my life and I owe it to my friend and teammate Tammy. She and another teammate suggested I come to practice.

When you've had a few beers, really, is anything a bad idea?

Tammy called me a few days later and reminded me that I was going to practice with her. Naively, I asked if there was a lot of running involved. It's not that I was completely out of shape then; It was that I didn't know anything about rugby except that I'd always had a penchant toward the rugby style shirt.

Tammy and I took a run around my block twice that night and, presto! I was ready to join the team.

Oy.

I started playing the sport at 25 years old. I wish I'd learned about it sooner. I wish it had been an option for me in high school or in college.

No, I should say: I wish I'd known sooner that I needed this in my life.

If rugby was offered at my college (which I found out there had been a team years earlier), I don't know that I would have joined. My hobbies in high school were mostly theater arts-related. When I started smoking cigarettes in college I quit singing, and didn't see myself as an athlete (beer pong and keg stands excluded).

Is it just that I'm part of a team now? Nope. I did play softball through the parks and rec in my town and actually did indoor track for two seasons in high school (until I broke a hurdle with my trail leg toe). I've been on teams before. And, it's also not the same as being a cast member, though, my closest friends in high school were my cast mates.

It's nearly indescribable for me, this feeling I get when I'm playing or even just thinking of playing. I get intimidatingly enthusiastic on the pitch. And I'm thankful and fortunate that my teammates understand this about me enough to know it's a fire inside me.

Part of my love of the game is that it feeds so well into my feminist ideals. I want women to play rugby with the same frequency that men play (though it's a minority sport in the US, the number of men's to women's teams is... a lot more. I don't have the statistics). I want women of all ages to help spread the sport here. I want women to say that they're playing this sport they never imagined playing and to find more women with whom to share this bond. AND, I want women's rugby to be held with the same regard as men's rugby.

To date, I've had four black eyes (one involving stitches, another involving a golf ball bruise on my forehead), a softball-sized hematoma under my knee which was eventually drained, and I'm currently icing my ankle for its second sprain of this season. (Tomorrow my team is playing a night game in Portland, ME. I'll be driving two hours to watch and yell from the sidelines in 37 degree weather.)

I've also had a dozen conversations with my family about this and I think they're starting to understand it more -- not the rules of the sport -- they're starting to realize that rugby is in my life. For reals. While they don't know why I am so torn about choosing to play or choosing to miss a match on the big Jewish holidays, they know this is one of the biggest decisions I face every fall.

Rugby has taught me so much about myself. I want to play for as long as I can. I get sad thinking about the time when I won't be on the pitch anymore. I get fired up every season as younger and younger women are joining us. The fear that a new teammate could take my position is what motivates me to keep pushing, to keep driving, to keep. going.

And, I think, what if I knew at 18 years old how much I needed rugby...

(tears welling)

Yankee Swap

I'm pleased with a gift idea for my company yankee swap. Yes. In December, around the holidays. Last year was the first one I'd been to, having only been with my company for five months at the time. I knew it was sort of an "anything goes" kind of swap. And being jokey mcjokerson, I didn't want to show up with a gift anyone would actually want. So, while at a car show last year I picked up a poster of a Nissan -- one of their sports car models. I got a cheap frame from Target and wrapped my present in copies of that week's Metro newspapers. I even included the pages with my 75% completed crosswords.

The person who selected my gift opened it with such gusto! I found out afterward that he was expecting it be a Farrah Fawcett poster or something more scintillating than the car. As with all yankee swaps, he had the option of switching with someone else but he didn't and so took home my brilliant gift. Perhaps he'd bring it next year to the swap! And maybe, this would be one of those amazingly awful gifts that makes its way to swaps year after year...

A week later, I asked him if he'd hung up the poster. Our conversation was in passing, as in, he never fully stopped walking in his path. Maybe he was in a hurry or just didn't think it was important enough to stand still for a moment. He told he me that the poster wound up in his garbage can... and continued to walk away.

I was crushed. To this day, I mentally give him hairy eyeballs. Well, I hope it's mental and doesn't outwardly show. His arrogance puts me off. And I've spent the last 9 months thinking on what I could bring to the next swap.

Yes. I really have been thinking about this for 9. whole. months.

I'd thought about super gluing $10 to a rock, making it unusable, to reflect how I felt my last $10 spent on the frame was treated. But then I'd have blown $20 on yankee swap gifts, further creating more waste.

Another idea was these mini orange traffic cones at my desk that have Volvo's logo on them. I typically give them to new hires who get a company car (yes, it is a Volvo). But since I'm the only one with the cones, it would remove all anonymity.

It came to me today.

I'm going to buy a bunch of non-perishable food items: pasta, soup, beans, tuna fish, etc. I'll get decent stuff, too, avoiding dented cans, etc. I'll include a note that says something like, "I was dismayed after hearing that the gift I thoughtfully brought last year was thrown away. Feel free to keep these items for your family, or donate them to a local food shelter, as there many in our communities that go without daily."

Boo-ya.

Area Woman Abbreviates, saves tm

Colleagues of local area resident woman Elena "Lany" Mamlok report that Mamlok is saving time by shortening the spelling of words.

"Thx", commented Mamlok. She went on to say, "At first I was worried I'd hurt the integrity of the English language.. but I've just saved so much time. Even cutting back on the ellipses helps."

To interview Mamlok for this article, she suggested we meet at the "Du Do" in Davis Square, Somerville, and grab a cup of coffee.

Studies have shown that the measures Mamlok has taken have provided her another whole minute over the past three months. Mamlok and her sister, Charna Mamlok Westervelt, also an abbreviator, combined their saved time and applied it to Cape Cod traffic.

"I'll admit, I was a little disappointed that I didn't use my time more wisely.. but there are still other ways I can get that back." Mamlok feels strongly that if she starts referring to the National Broadcasting Company as NBC, she will gain an additional five minutes by the end of 2010, since it's not a leap year.

However, not everyone is on board with Mamlok's verbiage. "I have no idea what she's saying half the time -- either in person or over e-mail", expressed a colleague who asked to remain anonymous. "And she also just sounds unprofessional. She calls a sandwich a 'sammich'. How does that save time? It's the same number of syllables. She just sounds like an imbecile." When asked to comment, Mamlok said she would have chosen "idiot" over "imbecile" to gain the milisecond in the long run.

Fun in the Office!

My office is really beautiful -- who ever thinks to say that about their office? I mean, this building is stunning, for an office building, of course. To promote the concept of openness, all the offices and conference rooms have glass walls. The conference rooms do have curtains, but the only curtains in people's offices are the window shades. I can see what my colleagues are doing -- the walls are see-through. (I guess that's redundant. Redundant.)

It's Friday. And it's a warm, sunny day. I'm at the point in the week where I'm only operating at about 79% if my co-workers are lucky. I'm having these grand delusions of running or skipping or trotting by my Senior VP's office waiving my arms hysterically just to see if he notices out of the corner of his eye. It's not really inappropriate office behavior... just different. And it may be a distraction, I suppose, but there are lots of other distractions that happen all the time here and I'm never one of them. I'm just sayin I don't think there'd be any real harm...

For fun...

I found this bathing suit while looking for a new two-piece one myself:
http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/11748.htm

While marveling at this suit, and the whopping $0.05 savings(!), I thought it would be funny to call up the live chat and treat it like a phone sex line (or how I imagine a phone sex line conversation would go).

I also, and I'm being serious when I say this, created a free "postlet" account. If you've looked on craigslist for either real estate or a new apartment for rent you may come across these pretty nice ad templates created by postlet. I was going to put up a big box (like refrigerator-sized) in the real estate section... on the corner of Somewhere and OverThere, provided there's no sudden gust of wind.

That's all I have at the moment.

Deleting Rows in Excel

Cambridge

Local area resident woman, Elena "Lany" Mamlok, has decreased her effort by nearly 50% in manipulating a file.

"So I get this data dump of a report once a month and it's not formatted for anything useful. It costs me at least a day to reformat into something pretty... well, pretty as far as Excel can be attractive," Mamlok whined.

This particular step is where Mamlok deletes over 100 non-consecutive rows. "There's practically no data integrity left by the time I'm done deleting all this crap. I mean, the amount of human error in this process is huge."

Mamlok went on to state that this report does eventually make its way to Senior Vice Presidents in her company.

When asked if she could further explain how she cut her manipulation efforts down dramatically, Mamlok said, "Well, I used to highlight the row and then right click and select delete. Now I just right click, which selects the whole row and gives me the delete option at the same time. So I just saved half."

Half, indeed.

"My wife's pregnant, so she needs an SUV"

Ugh, no she doesn't.

I manage a company car program for a pharmaceutical company. Our field employees (sales reps and medical positions) who visit doctors, patients, and hospitals have company cars.

I'm continually amazed at the requests I get from employees.

We offer three solid vehicles -- all of which are nicer than the car I drive -- so it's hard for me to empathize with employees when they insist the trunk space isn't big enough or they MUST have a third row of seats.

These are work vehicles. And the last time I checked, sales people weren't bringing their children on their sales calls, nor were they carpooling with colleagues. Of course employees can use these vehicles in their personal life, but that's a perk; it's not the standard we're using in our vehicle decision-making.

My parents drove sedans and managed to fit me and my sister (who was likely still in a car seat when I was born) just fine in their cars when we were young. They didn't even have a station wagon and the only time they drove a mini van was when they moved us to college or the time we drove from CT to Atlanta to visit family.

This person who told me his wife needs an SUV is actually really friendly and seems pretty level-headed. I hope he ends up choosing the hybrid sedan we offer.

Plant Life

I cannot keep a plant alive.

A few years ago I had a ficus tree and a Philodendron. Neither lived past the age of two months under my care. The ficus passing was particularly hard to reconcile.

So, I thought maybe I'd gotten better at caring for plants since it's been five years and I'm older and therefore, should be wiser.

A few months ago, I had a beautiful orchid, which I was told wasn't that difficult to keep up, at my desk. I've seen other orchids in the office and I've consulted with their owners for tips. I even asked the gardeners who maintain the lovely live plants on my floor. But a few short months as an orchid owner proved too much for me. Alas, my orchid whom I'd named "étoile" rotted.

So I'm at it again! This time with an ivy! Nothing says Cambridge, MA, quite like a beautiful ivy. And lucky for me, I hear they like to be dry.

Good. But how dry is too dry? I got off to a bad start with Ivy when I accidentally over watered her. And I was told to let her dry out and only water once a week. Okay. Well, when the leaves started turning white and then tan and lost any semblance of green, I thought, maybe it's time to water Ivy again.

This was last week and I shook off all the dead leaves, which now leaves (ha ha, LEAVES!) a pretty sparse looking plant. Sparse and dry. When I watered it last, I brought it to the bathroom instead of the coffee counter/water cooler where there's a full sink. I was embarrassed by my parenting neglect and thought the ladies' room would be empty. I have never seen it more crowded! I guess all the women on the floor decided that 2:30 was the time to use the lavatory. So, I'm trying to water Ivy and make small talk and of course I have to hear advise on what to do.

Just shut up! I didn't want to hear it!

I don't comment on others' clearly bad decisions at the office -- like wearing a scrunchy in their hair, or tapered suit pants.

Okay, I'm petty and off the subject. I'm just staring at Ivy wondering how I might right the wrongs...

I can't wait for the season to start!

I'm talking the rugby season. Like everyone else in New England, I'm sick of the snow (but still feel entitled to complain though I make no plans to move from the area in the near future). My reaction is that I want to tackle someone. Hard. Our first match (North Shore Women Rugby) is Saturday, March 28th. Less than a month away. We've been practicing indoors so we're all getting fit (and fine) but aren't tackling and only minimally rucking and mauling.

Sunday, I'm hoping to get outside, toss the ball around and, yep, tackle someone. It will be three weeks until game time and I'm nothing if I can't tackle someone -- it's key for the position I play.

Argh -- I can't wait! I wish the spring were here! I wish we were playing games already!!!

Some Thoughts

I'm wearing a button down collar shirt today that I got a few years ago, and I think it's time I took this work shirt out of rotation due to the yellow stained underarm areas... I'm trying not to spread my arms too much today so I'm avoiding describing anything that would require large sweeping hand motions and I'm lucky not to have any meeting or conferences or any interactions that require I raise my hand.

I've almost finished my personal email account transition from hotmail to gmail. I'm enjoying, but am still confused by, the conversation collapsing feature -- especially when it's to or from email addresses in which multiple people are involved. I'm on two email groups and it takes me a bit longer to realize if I've read a message or not.

My last admittance makes me sound like an imbecile, but to be fair, I have a horrible short term memory.

I have a selective accent. I like to say words with "orr" like I'm from New York. So, I'm hArrified about my hArrible short term memory. And, since I live in Boston, I might admit that I can occasionally act retaahhhded (although I really don't use that word -- only to illustrate my comment). Wicked.

Somewhere between graduating college five years ago and the present day, I've become less "screw the man" in my ideology and a bit more mature... or I guess practical in my thinking, which is unfortunate. Somedays I wish I could be less concerned with adult matters -- saving for retirement, making car loan, student loan, credit card payments on time, worrying what kind of home I'll be able to afford when I eventually get sick of renting. I wish I could return to the screw the man Lany of yesteryear... and not feel compelled to work a 40 hour, Monday - Friday job.

I love and hate reuniting with people on Facebook, because there's that part of me that compares myself to my old classmates. I hate that about me. I also hate that my friendships with some people make me feel inadequate -- and not because of anything the other person has done, it's just a difference of priorities, and therefore different lots in life.

This time I've spent writing my thoughts should have been devoted to a project that I really don't like at work. It's not the work so much, but that I'm not the one to make the final decision... I'm just doing the research. But once that decision is made, I'll have to be the one to hear the complaints from the stakeholders.

I wish more people would send positive comments. (I'm thinking about this project at work.) I just wish people thanked each other more... or thought first before making stupid remarks. And I wish I had the balls/stupidity to finally tell people that I DO think they're fucking morons, and I wish they were just as dumb to think that I was kidding, so that I wouldn't create a bad relationship.

I went to a casino for the first time ever on Saturday and won a little bit of money playing black jack, thanks to my mom's guidance. It was such a rush, holding the chips in my hand when I went to cash out. This will be a very occasional outing for me... and I'm glad to have waited this long to ever go. I think I have an addictive personality about some things... or to be more positive, when I get into something, I do it 100%. So.

My birthday is coming up and I'll be 28. I'm overall content where I am in life, but I always wonder what the next is for me.

I've been collecting redeemable bottles at my desk to help out my rugby team's bottle drive fundraiser and it took me practically three months to collect $2.

I can't wait for spring to be here. I could be having an awful day, but if it's sunny and mild outside, that silver lining trumps all. My body was tricked last week into thinking it was spring and while I had nothing spectacular to look forward to one particular day, I was just so happy. I can't wait for that Saturday or Sunday to come when I can walk outside without a coat -- just walk around my neighborhood and people watch while I eat ice cream.

I locked myself out of my home this morning and disrupted my morning routine. I LOVE my morning routine. I am anal retentive or mildly OCD about getting ready for work. I am absolutely not being sarcastic when I say I enjoy keeping a schedule in the morning. And since this morning's circumstances delayed me about 40 minutes (closer to the time more people leave for work), my favorite neighborhood coffee shop was busier (yes, though delayed I stopped for coffee), and the T was that much more crowded.

I'm now going to return to my research project.

Taxes

I just attempted to prepare my 2008 taxes online. I've done it myself for a few years and it's been straightforward: I'm single with no dependents, I only have 1, maybe 2 W2's, and I haven't owned anything of significance. I also never reported the interest paid on my student loans, which I know means less of a return for me, but I couldn't figure it out (I'm not very good with holding onto forms I get in the mail)... so anyway, it's never been all that confusing.

The only differences this past year were that I bought a car and reported the excise tax paid and I bought (and sold) company stock through my employee stock purchase plan.

So, I don't get who these people are that both Turbo Tax and H&R Block are talking about when they say they've found their clients an additional $2500 of returns. Do you have to own a home? A hybrid car? Have 3 kids? Be a student?

I have no idea. I know I'm not one of them, though.

Prospect Street, Cambridge, MA

This morning is an example of the quintessential New England wintry mix.

Commuting is easy for no one between snow covered sidewalks and slush covered streets, it's a day best spent in your flannel sheeted bed surrounded with books, music, movies, coffee, and, if you're lucky, a cat to curl up beside you... and if you're even luckier, a loved one to share your coziness.

Well, since I didn't have the foresight to bring my laptop home last night, I trudged into work.

On any other day, walking ten minutes down Prospect Street to the Central Square T Stop would be no big deal. Even in the rain, this is manageable, not ideal, but manageable.

Ugh, today sucked. I guess drivers didn't realize that they would still splash the pedestrians on the sidewalk. This time, it wasn't just rain water it was dirty slush that actually sticks to your pants.

And, I've said this before (not in blogging but to myself... and my therapist) Cambridge does not have enough sewers... neither does Somerville! You know where the sidewalk descends to meet the street? Why is there no sewer there? My only thought is it has something to do with the subway. Those puddles are practically of manhole depths! And you have no way of knowing how much of your foot will be submerged unless you just walk right through or see the poor guy ahead of you have his entire calf engulfed.

When I decided to write about the morning's commute, it was intended as a call to drivers on Prospect Street to stop being self-centered schmucks and move away from the puddles in the lane closest to the sidewalk, especially when they see pedestrians brace themselves by using their umbrellas to cover their legs.

So, there's that, but this has also turned into a call to city planners: I beg of you, I plead you, to research the feasibility of more sewers!

Out there

From: Mamlok, Elena
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 11:06 AM
To: Mamlok, Elena
Subject: Confidential PowerPoint left at the printer

Hello all,

Just wanted to announce that a presentation stamped “Confidential” has been left out, in the open, on the file cabinet next to the printer – the printer our entire department uses.

And if you ask me, it’s a load of crap.

See you at the holiday party!

Elena

Red Eye

I went to Aurelia's Oratorio yesterday at the American Repertory Theater associated with Harvard. It was phenomenal! If you have the opportunity, go see it while it's there! Really, amazing.

Just a moment before the show began, the seat next to me was occupied by the ticket holder and next to her, her friend. I overheard this stranger say "Just because I'm using eyedrops doesn't mean I have to stay at home".

Ew.

She then proceeded to use a sort of wet nap but with much stronger smelling disinfectant to clean her hands and then took out a tiny bottle of eyedrops. This bottle was smaller than those bottles of re-wetting drops you use for contact lenses. It was the sort of size that holds a quantity big enough for say... a dosage of medicine you might need for a 10 day period.

I think the woman next to me had conjunctivitis! And she sat down just moments before the show started that she didn't have enough time to take care of this issue in the bathroom! Had there been more time, I would have expressed my discontent and utter grossedoutedness (it's a word.). Instead, I shifted over as much as I could in the other direction while in my seat and made sure not to use the arm rest that connected our chairs.

Social Networking

My facebook page reached its all time high earlier today when I befriended my 421st closest bff. Perhaps because my newest and long lost bff claiming to have graduated from my high school the same year as me is a complete mystery, or perhaps because I'm wanting to become more private, I deleted 64 of my 421 bffs. Additionally, I've taken the first (and second and third steps) to cancel my myspace page.

The myspace page is not as big a deal, except that now I realize I'll have lost all my blog posts there. Ugh. Well, it takes 48 hours to cancel, so I'm going to do a whole lot of copying and pasting, even though I don't think I have any right to my posts per myspace's agreement with its users.

Okay, I've now verified that my myspace page is gone. Yup.

I was told the cancellation would take 48 hours, but I guess they were able to rush that order. Ironically I was going to write that perhaps I was being a bit impulsive... and clearly, I was. I guess what will be missed the most is that I used to re read my posts and have a nice chuckle from time to time. One of my favorites was a fake email I wrote to a guy I had briefly dated. He didn't call me back so I went so far as to create a fake email address for him so I could send him an email and bcc my friends so they would see my charming neuroses. I made sure to include my 7 working email addresses, went out of my way to excuse him for not having returned my email saying he probably got the calendar date confused, so Of Course! I could reschedule, and even included a google map to my apartment in case he wanted to chat in person and perhaps forget where I lived. Sigh. The best part of that was my bcc'd friends were horrified I'd do that, until I revealed it was a joke. Good times. Another one that made me laugh was my Good Hair Day post. Vain? Yes. Entertaining? To me, yes.

In any event, I guess I thought it'd be a good idea to sort of "clean house" on facebook, but it's so political. Do I delete certain high school friends? Some of whom I might walk past on the street and maybe not recognize. And I can't delete anyone from the rugby group or a theater affiliation because I'll start popping up as a person s/he may know. I'm probably giving this way too much thought. And, clearly, the whole idea of maintaining more privacy is shot now that I'm writing about it.

The true test will come when I'm at work next and can't look at those 64 deleted friends' pages or search for music on myspace. So... what other sites will be the object of my distraction?

Local Woman has Mixed Reaction about Company Decorations

In a long time coming of events, resident woman, Elena Mamlok is premiering her first person blog.

So, I came into work today and was surprised by the abundance of holiday decorations. My building is just for my company -- not an office building comprised of several companies.

Without decorations, the building is gorgeous. It's about 5 years old, it's won awards for being a green building, it's bright, colorful -- as far as corporate offices go, I think this is the best in which I could be immersed.

Anyway, the first floor which is sort of a large open atrium has a Christmas tree, the large banisters on our huge stairwell leading up the open plan second floor are wrapped in lights and greenery. There's a huge poinsettia at the top of that stairwell. Every floor has its own poinsettia by the coffee station and an ornament-clad wreath by the elevators.

So.

The decorations are all beautiful... I'm just not sold on their complete appropriateness for the workplace (I say as I'm posting this during work). I always have a hard time with "holiday" decorations because they're never inclusive of all holidays. They're not winter decorations. If they were, then we'd have spring decorations, too. And we don't. And we didn't have autumn inspired wreaths... or posters of swimming pools and ice cream cones in the summer (really, what would be a summer time decoration?)

Am I hyper sensitive? Perhaps. But I've always believed companies shouldn't have religious symbols or decorations. Inevitably, someone is excluded. (Would I be happy if there was a menorah? No. Because it would only be added to acknowledge a holiday that's not as significant to Judaism as Christmas is to Christianity.)

I do plan on attending company holiday parties, but I have the choice to attend or not. And I'm actually planning one for my department. I guess, somewhat lucky for us, since we have no budget, there will be no decorations.

Area woman nostalgic over myspace blogs

Resident woman, Lany Mamlok, reflected earlier today about missing blogging via her myspace page.

"Sigh... I created this 'Resident Woman' blog so that I would own my blog, and not myspace... but I don't use it very often and am worried I may have locked myself into writing in the third person."

Additionally, Mamlok felt that myspace's popularity started to wean, in part, due to facebook and, "people seem to have actual work to do... not as many people were reading my posts or going to my page that often."

Mamlok re read some of her old posts this morning, with a happy appreciation for her writings. "It's not like I don't want to blog... I guess I just haven't been into it all that much."

Mamlok has decided to continue her blog via blogspot, but will not necessarily write in the third person.