STBUC

Chivalry no more?

January 18th, 2012

What happened to men having chivalry, manners, common courtesy towards women?!

Yesterday there was a lot more snow in my world. My road will be awful for days,but main roads are good. Getting to work is not an issue, I have a good car & take things slow. I keep the essentials in the car in case I get stuck. I got to work just fine and the snow started dumping. By 11 there was over 2″ on my Tahoe.

My executive director came into my office to see my director. He told somebody on the way that we should just go home. He went into my directors office and I have no doubt that before he left that office he said we should all go home. Most the guys had already gone home.

I’m talking to my assistant at her desk and my director walks out of his office ready to go home. He walks by us and tells us to drive safe. We ask if he is headed home and he says yes. No mention of you should go home. He leaves two women in the office?! About halfway out of the office he must have realized that was a bad move & turns around says you should go home & turns around and walks out. I know he sucks at communicating with me, but WTH?! Shouldn’t the male director been the last to leave?! He is being paid a lot more than me. Why should I stay in the snow?! Yeah, I can probably drive better & so can my assistant, but that doesn’t mean he should leave two women in the office.

I asked my sister what kind of MAN does that?! She said the kind that just bailed off the cruise ship he sunk while women & children were on board. She was watching the news and apparently it is around the anniversary of the Hudson Bay plane thing, I think the pilot was Sully or something. Anyway, he was the last to leave his plane, he apparently walked it twice to ensure all got out. Then you have the cruise ship guy who had to be ordered by the Coast Guard to get back on his boat to help people. Pathetic. News said there are heroes and zeros. Some are captains and some are not.

My sister tells me today that she was stuck at work until 4:30 while her doctors insisted on leaving by 1:30 to get home safe. WTH?! They have a phone answering service, but doctors didn’t want that because then they would have to do their job and help their patients if need be. AND the doctor lived in Bellevue, my sister & 2 other girls live North where there was actually loads of snow yesterday. Ridiculous! That is a selfish doctor – back to the chivalry…

My sister goes & asks the dentist next door if he has a snow shovel. He is put off and tells her to let him figure it out. My sister says okay and goes back to her office. About 5 minutes later he comes over to let her know he put the shovel and salt outside for her. WTF?! His patients, he is the one that will be sued if somebody slips & hurts themselves, and he tells a lady that the shovel & salt is outside for her? He couldn’t take the 5 minutes to do it himself? Man? I think not! No man would do that.

My Dad was not without flaws, but he had chivalry, manners, common sense to care for a lady! A man walks on the side of the road nearest cars. A man sleeps on the side of the bed closest to the door. A man opens the door for a lady. A man offers to help a lady. A man never leaves a lady in a questionable situation, he makes sure she is good. A man will shovel the snow. A man will tell you to go home before him and ask if you are okay to get home. WTH happened to that?! When did so many men become selfish boys?!

Yeah, I can open my doors, I prefer the side of my bed closest to the door, I can drive home in snow, but that doesn’t mean a man should not offer assistance. There is nothing that makes me less of a woman for wanting a man to show that he still has those old fashioned values and chivalry. Yeah, I’ll continue to be able to care for myself, but damnit a man should offer help & sometimes I’m happy to take it. But for a grown man to ask younger ladies to do things like shovel walkways & leave before asking if they are okay to drive is pathetic! Sad and pathetic! This world needs more men like my Dad and it is to bad he isn’t here to show them how!

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Gym Speedos

January 11th, 2012

I was at the gym on Sunday, not a normal night to go to the gym, but since my CA family fed me so well I thought I should hit it for a while. Amazing how many people I recognized from my normal workout times. Maybe I’m a slacker & should be going Sunday evenings. I did some stairmaster and then decided to do some abs.

To do abs I went into the aerobics room and when it is not in use with a class there are usually a few people in there doing their own workouts or working with a trainer. I pulled out a mat & since the mats are in the back of the room I just stayed towards the back. I was happily doing my abs when a big dude (as in muscular) walks in followed by a slightly smaller dude (still muscular). The big dude apologizes to the other guy for keeping him waiting. The other guy tells him no big dea. Obviously a training session I thought to myself. I was thinking maybe boxing. I continue with my abs.

As I’m doing situps out of the corner of my eye I swear I see the slightly smaller dude taking off his pants. WTH?! I was thinking is he really changing in the aerobics room…with a girl doing situps?! I keep on and look the other way. Then I turn and the boy is stripped down to his purple speedos! What The Hell?! Seriously?! Did he not notice the pool is on the other side of the gym. I keep at the abs.

Big dude starts explaining how to walk on stage to the other guy & then speedo man practices walking. Umm…really?! Training for body building competitions? Awesome. So this guy is practicing walking in his purple speedo and I’m wishing I had a little card to hold up to give him a score. Walk in relaxed, but not completely relaxed because you want to see definition, but don’t flex, save that for when you are on stage with the judges, that was good but go ahead and try again. Craziness! Then it was posing. Hold those arms up and show those biceps! Look at yourself in the mirror and admire the work.

Apparently speedo guy has been working on abs every day with weights (he really does need to work on that before going on stage, I mean obviously he doesn’t have a gut, but he wasn’t showing a 6-pack or anything & don’t boys in competitions have those). Well big dude told speedo man no weights! That will make his waist to small and he will look disproportionate. Umm…is it me or do all body building boys look disproportionate in the waist area? Maybe they are all using weights for abs when they shouldn’t be. Big dude was only slightly disproportionate. he would get a higher score if I had a card to hold up and he was in speedos.

At this point I really had enoug of speedo man. I was worried the laughter in my head was going to go from my head right out my mouth. I know I had an amused WTH grin on my face. I quickly finished up the abs I was doing & moved on to the eliptical to finish up my workout.

Please boys…do NOT strip down to a speedo in common areas of the gym that don’t have a pool. At least warn a girl before you do something like that.

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DefinitelyMaybe

January 10th, 2012

I can definitely make decisions. Sometimes I’m a little slow. Sometimes I’d rather somebody make the decision. Alright, sometimes I can’t make decisions. It is just so hard to make decisions sometimes. I’m glad I share this trait with my sisters though. (If you are reading this and thinking you can make decisions, yeah, as often as I can.)

I almost felt bad for my bro-in-law last week when we started our trip to CA to visit with the family down there. We were on an evening flight and none of us ate before heading to the airport. We parked the car and on the shuttle over we were already talking about wanting food. We made it through security and it was time to find food.

We tried naming a place or two we knew was there. Then we found a map to look out. There was Anthony’s, Wolfgang, Chili’s Too, food court, other stuff. We ruled out some choices because they were in the wrong section. Yeah us! Then we walked toward the food court thinking we would figure it out on the way.

We see Anthony’s and John thinks that is good. We look at a menu and sure I could find something on there. Should we put our name in? I ask if I’ll smell like fish the entire plane ride if I eat here and John says no. Okay, Anthony’s is fine. Then it is Shelly are you sure, we can go elsewhere. My sisters took my question as I don’t want to eat there. Fair enough, I wasn’t that thrilled about the idea. We go back and forth on walking to another spot or eating at Anthony’s while on the waiting list. As we are debating our name is called and under pressure I make the decision to try Chili’s. We tell the lady we changed our mind and off we go.

We walk a fair distance and on the way we checked out a menu at Alaskan or something like that, a bar. Nothing to intriguing there. Three things I would consider, same amount of things I’d consider at Anthony’s. We keep walking and were joking that Chili’s will probably be closed. Hmm…who would have thought?! Chili’s Too was actually closed! At dinnertime. In the airport. Not okay. Let me tell ya I could feel the love going my way upon that discovery.

Okay, lets go towards where we started (the only option). We stop at the Alaskan cause it was the first open place so that is where we were going to eat. We pull some tables together and sit down to drink and eat. I get turned off by the menu because one of my 3 things I would consider is crossed off so now I’m not really wanting any of it. Beth, Deb, and I keep asking what eachother is getting to eat, does anything look good to you, you want to eat elsewhere? We somehow decide this is Beth’s decision. Yeah for it not being me! We put off the waitress telling her we haven’t decided yet. John is a little frustrated and he asks the right question for an answer.

John: Beth, where would you eat if you were here alone.

Beth: Well it sure as shit wouldn’t be here!

This cracks us all up. I say I agree. John may have rolled his eyes. I say we should get up and get out before the waitress comes back. We grab our bags and go. Back to Anthony’s! The hostess looks at us and we ask to be back on the list. I think she just made us wait to punish us for leaving. I say if I was alone I would have gone to Qdoba and back to the gate as I’m looking around at all the different places we could eat right away. Maybe that didn’t help some of us who were frustrated?

We get our seat and the decisions continue to come. I was able to make a decision on what to eat fairly quickly, the one thing I would eat on the menu. Done! I even decide on a drink. Of course when I order it the waitress tells me it is the one drink they are out of the stuff to make. Of course it is! She said there is another drink I like, but I didn’t want it, I wanted the drink I ordered so i just had coke. Look at me, I decided on coke right away. :) Gee, as I’m writing this I realize I actually can make lots of decisions. Ha!

It was a great start to a fun trip with family. Maybe it was good we were separated on the plane though.

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I’m Back!

January 2nd, 2012

Someecards: It may be the antidepresents talking, but I’m feeling somewhat optimistic about 2012.

It has been a LONG time since I’ve been on my blot. Not that I don’t have things to say or better things to do than write, I just haven’t done it. I’m not one for New Years Resolutions, but maybe I’ll try to keep up more on my blog this year. I have a list of stuff I meant to write about, but didn’t get to. I’ll see what I can remember about those and write some.

Holiday season was fantastic. Going back to work this week and especially next week (5 days, yikes) will be hard! I have gotten used to this time off. I have balanced being productive, working a little, being lazy, and having fun. Yes, I’m that good. Ha! Today is my last day off so I’m going to try and be productive. We will see how I do.

Joli & crew gave me a Someecards daily calendar. Amazing! That is why you got the quote at the top. Someecards always make me laugh, feel free to send them to me, I usually see humor in them. :) I’ll share whatever day I’m on with you. Maybe it will motivate me to get on my blog more because I think everybody should have the joy of someecards.

Hope your year is off to a good start!

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Hiking in the Snow by Jax

April 20th, 2011

Auntie Shelly got mom and dad to go on another hike! Auntie Shelly made a new friend in her running group who invited her hiking. So, she invited us hiking. I was really excited because her friend and her friend’s friends had dogs! I was going to have my own hiking buddies. Well, night before the hike and her friend who coordinated the group hike called and said everybody bailed and then she bailed. No dogs for me. Auntie, mom, and Dionne still had their mind set for a hike so they just picked a different location and it was a go.

Auntie came to pick us up because Dionne was coming and there is more room in the Tahoe and I get the whole back to myself. Again, don’t get me started on the Jetta. So all our packs were loaded and off we went to Heather Lake.

On the way to Heather Lake we made a quick stop at a pet store in Granite Falls so mom and auntie could buy me an expandable leash. Auntie was not going to take me hiking with another short leash. Mom said the guy in the pet store was a little slow, auntie said at least he washed his hands before helping us and they both agreed he was nice. When leaving Auntie went straight when she should have turned so we had a very quick detour. The detour gave dad and Dionne a little more time to chat about mushrooms and how they are going to grow truffles. I’m all for growing food, but only if I can eat it.

When we arrived at Heather Lake trailhead we were surprised there were as many cars as there was. We all got out and ready to go. Auntie put her rain pants on. It wasn’t raining, but it was wet and had been raining on and off all morning. Dad put that damn pack on my back again. I like when dad comes, but why can’t he carry my stuff like he does for mom?!

We had noticed a little snow on the drive up and there was a little to the sides of the trail, but the trail was clear. It was a really pretty trail. It wasn’t a really steep incline, but it was constant. The trail was pretty wet and it some areas were taken over by some streams. I just pranced right through the water though, I was to lazy to go around this time.

As we got farther up the trail the snow seemed to be getting closer to our feet. Then it happened…we crossed from wet trail to snow trail. We were suddenly following tracks that we were hoping was the trail. We passed a group of people who said they didn’t make it to the lake because of the snow. We weren’t really equipped for a bunch of snow, but we were willing to give finding the lake our best shot.

The snow definitely provided some entertainment. Everybody kept falling and slipping. The trail from other people got smaller and smaller. We were walking on a trail that I barely fit in with my pack because the snow was on either side. Everybody would tell hole to the left or right in hopes the person behind wouldn’t fall in. Then they would just make new holes when they stepped. I’m glad I don’t sink in the snow like the humans. They kept stepping and sinking to their knees. Sometimes they would even need help getting out of their own holes.

We eventually got to a point where we decided we were not going to find the lake. About every other step they were all sinking to their knees. They were still laughing and having fun, but decided it was time to go back and give the lake another try when the snow is gone. We figure we were close to the lake and guessed where it was at, but without snowshoes we weren’t sure how to get there without sinking and hurting ourselves. I’m excited to go back and find the lake.

On the way back there was a lot more slipping because we were going down for the most part. Auntie slipped and just slid down the hill in her rain pants. It was funny cause she wasn’t expecting to slide so far the first time she fell. Then she and mom started going crazy and just sitting down and sliding when the hill was steep enough. They are weird. This was irritating because I couldn’t slide like that and was trying to keep a good pace down the mountain and they would have to stop and slide and laugh at each other. Dionne took video. I don’t know if auntie can upload video though.

It was a a great hike even if we didn’t see the lake. Since we didn’t see the lake there was no real stopping point where we broke out the snacks. So, when we got back to the car we opened up the Tahoe and had a little tailgate party with our snacks. It was very hard for me to sit in the back while they lined up all their snacks in front of me. They wouldn’t let me eat what I wanted, only what they would give me. Eventually they all got cold and finally took the tempting food away from me. I did try staying up for a little while on the drive home in hopes they would give me some more snacks I know they didn’t finish eating. When I realized that wasn’t going to happen I laid down and slept.

I can’t wait until our next hike. Hopefully there will be some dogs going with us and there won’t be as much snow. Thanks for getting us hiking again auntie and don’t forget to post pictures!

Love

JAX