What’s New

Excuses, Excuses…I see that I haven’t posted since July or so and it’s now October. I guess with no clear theme and no audience, it’d hard to know what to put here. I did want this to be a ‘whatever’ kind of thing…..

So I start a new job on Monday. Still with the same organization so I guess it’s considered a promotion. I want this to be different for me. I was an administrative assistant when I started 10 years ago. My idea of an admin was to be the one who keeps things going. I was supposed to know when we were running out of things, call who needed to be called when a light bulb went out. I put myself beneath the others in the office because they were in higher positions. I served them, I wasn’t to be friends with them. Thus, because we were a small office and didn’t interact with others except via email, I felt alienated.

When I wanted to move up to a newly created position, my boss at the time didn’t think I could do the job. Turns out the person she gave the job to really couldn’t do it, so I got my chance. Despite now being at the same level as my co-workers,  I still was somewhat alienated because of the pattern I created.

The new admin we hired didn’t have the same “I serve you” attitude, nor did she excel at her job. So I was in a position of authority over her which, for me, meant being distant enough that I could tell her how the jobs should be done and let her know when she screwed up. A person above me was new to the area, needed friends, and didn’t have the same role with the admin that I did, so they got quite friendly. Another alienation.

The new admin, in her lack of ability, clued me in to the fact that I had skills that I took for granted. While I was an admin, I had already been doing some of the things I was expected to do in my new position. She will never rise to that level. It was eye-opening.

I could take all these skills and the knowledge that I could successfully pick up new ones, to a new place. Be open to being friendly with all levels of staff, be open to being myself ( I didn’t feel I could admit to co-workers that I smoked sometimes for fear they’d dislike me) and be part of a group. A new start.

So I started looking. Happened to interview with someone who I think told a higher up in my department that I was looking. Was given a hefty raise with no explanation (to keep me in place is my guess – another positive reinforcement about my abilities). Paused in the job search for several months, renewed the search only to find that I was looking at a job in the same department I’d interviewed with during my initial search. I’d pulled out of the process back then because of the raise, but they remembered me from then and were happy to interview me and offer me the job.

Again, because it’s in the same organization, it is looked at as a promotion. I have trouble with that word.  I hesitate to use it  as a description for what I’ve done. Maybe because I think people will laugh at my arrogance. Me, promoted? No, that’s for better people. I’ve just been moving from job to job.

But I have to take a new tack on this. I am a good person, I am skilled, and I have been promoted 2 times now. To think that my first promotion almost didn’t happen. Eventually I would have found a new spot somewhere at a higher level, because that’s what I do.

So Monday I am going to go to a new job in a new building and be open to making new friends and confident in my ability to do a great job.

Or I’ll come back here and console myself…

Can Michael Vick be a Role Model to Kids?

As I understand it, Michael Vick has a new job working with several Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs in Virginia where he will be involved in fitness activities. He is still serving his federal sentence and has not yet be reinstated into the NFL. I would presume that his role is to be, on some level, a role model to these kids. But what message is he supposed to pass along?

He did not stop the dogfighting until he  was caught. This was an activity that occurred multiple times over the years so he had plenty of time to decide to stop. He was not under the influence of anyone or anything to the point that he could not change his behavior. Part of his punishment is to educate these kids. You don’t want him to say that he’s only  working at the Boys & Girls Clubs to fulfill a requirement, that, if given the opportunity, he’d rather be playing football than be a role model to them. Sure he can say dogfighting is wrong and I guess that, since they are kids and may not follow the news, they won’t know he didn’t think that until he was arrested for it.

The financial reorganization plan he is working on to resolve his bankrupcy issues is structured as if his playing in the NFL in the future is guaranteed. So he’s planning to pick up right where he left off. So he can’t say going to prison really hurt him. In this ecomony, bankrupcy is practically an everyday occurance and happens to people with a lot less income than him. The bankrupcy isn’t necessarily due to his financial irresponsibility. So how does he learn and grow from this so that he can tell kids what not to do?

Sure, he was probably hanging around the wrong people and that fostered these activities. But since he’s not been out of jail long, I don’t think he can show that he knows how to avoid the bad people and pick the good people. He probably hasn’t lost familial relationships over this so he can’t say he’s suffered in that way.

Hopefully HE will learn what they may not have taught him in college, that he cannot trust that everyone he comes in contact with is there for the right reasons and that, when employed by the NFL (or any company) he is in the public eye  and must conduct him self in a manner that represents the league, the team, and himself, well. I believe that talented kids are given lots of help to get through the academics of college and as money-makers for those colleges are placated to stay with whatever attention and perks are needed. He quite possibly never learned a lot of things about how to get along in this world.

Reality Review

So the Gosselins are breaking up. It wasn’t that long ago that they renewed their vows in Hawaii. I’ve been wondering if, because the trip was free for them, they didn’t take the ceremony as seriously as they might have had they had to scrimp and save for it. Was it just something they did for the show? Did they think it would help their marriage? I had thought that they had a special bond of support, that, because they didn’t seem to have the support of their families, they relied on eachother. I guess I was wrong.

I watched Tori Spelling’s reality show when it first started jsut to see what it was like. Surprisingly, I have watched every episode. Not sure if it’s because it really is interesting or I have some personality flaw. The last few ahve driven me crazy though. At every turn, viewers are reminded that Tori has to cope with life on her own while Dean is in Calgary for 5 weeks. Literally every ten minutes, whenever the scene shifts to the next thing Tori has to do (go to NY for an appearance, go to Tampa for HSN, go back to NY for her book meeting. I guess it was all to make us feel that much more elated for her when Dean surprised her in NY on Valentine’s Day. It was touching when she saw him ans was so surprised. She admits to being a workaholic but to tell us how stressed she is having to deal with her various enterprises falls on deaf ears in my case. I realize she needs to do these things to have income, but these are some incredible opportunities the rest of us would love to have the chance to complain about!

So Kendra is engaged (getting married tomorrow!) and pregnant. Some wonder just what her relationship with Hef was all about. I’m not close to the situation (so far away that you can’t count all the stars between us) but I have always thought that he was more of a father figure to her. He can’t possibly be that active in bed to satisy 3 or more girls. Being with Hef is a great door-opener, a great opportunity to see new things, meet new people, and start a career in Hollywood. I think that’s what it was for her. He settled her down, gave her security, gave her a path to go on which it sounds like she needed from she’s been quoted as saying. I was a bit worried her show would be thin on plot, just showing how blond she can be. I think they do need some variety of people. Kendra is still the playful one with Hank as her straight man. But it’s entertaining.

Gene Simmon’s Family Jewels shows how unreal a reality TV show can be. What girl is going to let her father tell her that an old non-practicing  Jewish rock star should be her child’s godfather? For drama, they show Gene and his girlfriend Shannon rushing off to NYC to get a gift for the baby and getting to the church just a few minutes late enough to make people start to wonder if they would show at all. That show is so obviously planned. But yet I still watch.

And Jessica Simpson is going to show us all the extremes people will go to for fashion and good looks. I’ll watch because she’s another person who interests me. Interesting coincidence that the movie she said was a factor in her decision to divorce Nick is at about the same time he and his girlfriend Vanessa break up. I watched the movie to see if I could figure out what in it was so key to her. I think it was when Noah says (it’s not an exact quote) “What do YOU want to do? Not what your mother thinks, not what (the fiance) thinks. What do YOU want?” that made Jessica think just what did she want… She is so close to her parents that she probably thought about what they wanted, so this gave her permission to think for herself. I woudl think they are so different that they would not try too imitate star-crossed lvovers, but who knows…

Hmmm…

So I haven’t posted in a while. I don’t think anyone reads this except when I’ve posted about Jon & Kate.

They are certainly going through a rough time now. It’s apparent that she is a motivated person and I think she is thriving in her new role as PR person for the Jon & Kate ‘brand’. Still, I wish she could know that although she sees herself growing away from Jon, both of them could quit this show and get back to focusing on themselves and their family. She can give up these opportunities for something that could mean more to her.

Some people are griping that players should not be suspended during the playoffs. There is more pressure to do well in the playoffs than any other time of the season and certainly you want your whole team there. If you lose, your team is done for the year. No more income from ticket sales, merchandising or concessions. So a player may think he needs to do harm to another player to get ahead. If there is not a serious punishment to keep stupid actions from happening, players could be seriously hurt. We’ve already seen some stupid moves in basketball and hockey. I think, if you know the rule is that you will be suspended for certain types of actions (intent to maim, for instance) and you ‘do’ that action, you should be suspended without a hearing for the rest of the playoffs. That should create a dis-incentive so that players can be safe.

Sean Avery hasn’t learned to be normal

I would waste little time debating whether Sean Avery’s head-slap on Tim Thomas (4/4/09) was intentional – well-behaved mature people would be given leeway on this type of thing but Avery is not one of those people. His motives should always be questioned and the evilest of intentions should be suspected. There should be an “Avery” rule, that he gets double the penalty for whatever he does and anyone retaliating to his actions gets no penalty. Retaliating against something is usually the way to assert yourself and let the other person know you aren’t taking any crap. Avery’s brain thinks it’s funny when you retaliate and will just amp it up more since he knows he can get to someone. For him, the opposing player’s retaliation is a Pavlovian reward. Perhaps players should focus their retaliation on his teammates, who might get so sick of being victimized by his bad behavior that no team will want him (I wouldn’t want to see that but it seems like a way to get him out of the league) . I can’t think of any particular hockey skills he has that would benefit a team anyway. I wonder how these behaviors would manifest themselves in the real world. Would he be in and out of jail for petty crimes? An abuser? A stalker? A psychopath?

Something for Sophie

As it is a rare disease, information about canine hepatocutaneous syndrome is scarce. My dog contracted it about a year ago, so I want to provide a little information to add to what little is out there. Hopefully it will help someone.

“Hepato” means the disease has to do with the liver. “Cutaneous” means skin. The disese typically is seen in older dogs, although I don’t know what age that is. Our dog was six when she was diagnosed. The first sign you may notice in your dog is lethargy followed by cracks and swelling in the skin of the footpads, irriation in the skin of the vulva or other sensitive areas. You may also see what looks like irritations on the muzzle. By the time you see these things, the disease has already attacked the liver, leaving it looking like a honeycomb.

Footbaths and pain medications are recommended to treat the footpads as it is painful to put weight on them when they are so cracked. The cracks leave the dog susceptible to diseases picked up by the ground or other surfaces as well. I recommend getting paw protectors such as those available at Petco. These can be used in all weather and can be turned inside out to be put through the wash. They should only be used when the dog needs to walk around as the feet will sweat in them and that will cause further issues.

Your vet may want to do an ultrasound or liver biospy to confirm the disease. Amino acid transfusions are a recommended treatment as the liver is not longer adequately processing the proteins provided by the diet. The transfusions are given over 8 hours once a week. This will help clear up the outward signs of the disease. My dog was also prescribed Ursodiol, a liver medication, which she remained on for the rest of her life.

Our dog was very lethargic because of the pain medications. Because we had no previous experience with pain medications, we thought the lethargy was due to the disease and were considering euthanizing her at that point. We took her off the pain medications to see if that would help her recover her energy and were pleased to see that it did.

My dog was able to recover her energy and heal the cracks in her paw pads and other areas for many months. Although the liver is a remarkable organ in that it is able to regenerate, the prognosis is poor for dogs with this disease and most die within a year of diagnosis.

The blood tests done in February 09 showed that one of the two ‘numbers’ relevant to this disease had returned to normal and the other was half what is was in the previous year, although it was not in the normal range. We were encouraged by that, however within several weeks of those tests, she became finicky about her food. We tried several different foods and were prescribed supplements, hoping to get her back on track. We then tried cooked chicken, rice, hamburg, apples, carrots. At the end of March, she was showning signs of bleeding (black stools), which we had hoped was a treatable bleeding ulcer (something that can happen with this disease) but she was also showing slight signs of neurological deficits by having problems with balance.

By April, she was not eating, was drinking lots of water, could not go 8 hours without having to pee, and was throwing up the little she consumed. The jaundice that had come and gone had now returned and was very prominent. By April 2nd, she was much more unsteady and had more pronounced bleeeding (blood instead of formed stools). She saw the vet in the morning of April 3rd. By now her hind legs were not very reflexively responsive to the vet’s touch and it was clear she was in the end stages of the disease. We arranged for her to be euthanized later that afternoon, by which time she was unable to lift her upper body or head as she had no muscle tone.

We had our day to say goodbye, although we had been doing that for months knowing the day would come. She went peacefully. We will surely miss her.

Gosselin & Hayes

The season finale for Jon & Kate Plus 8 is Monday. The season opener for a similar show, Table for Twelve, follows. I’ve seen just a few episodes of Table for Twelve, the Hayes family of 3 sets of multiples (10 kids), and I’ve liked what I’ve seen. People will think they are copy cats of the Gosselins, but they live a blue collar life compared to what is almost a white collar life in the Gosselin house. The Hayes’ lives haven’t been invaded with invites to attend special events or see special things, from the episodes I’ve watched. Check it out to see what you think.

Gosselin Gripe

I recently watched an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 where Jon and one of his daughters went to Utah to ski and snowboard, and the rest of the family went to see Sesame Street Live. Now maybe they are making tons of money and can afford both of these things. But they had their own box at Sesame Street Live and those typically are unaffordable. Plus they got to meet all the characters afterwards. Kate talked about how the kids were tired and they were just making their way to their car as though she didn’t know this was going to happen. But they were the only attendees in the hallway with the characters. And the characters gave them each a goody bag of stuff. That is not something regular people get.

Maybe the show people knew they were going to be there and wanted to do this. Maybe she really didn’t expect it. But I think it was probably part of the conversation when the offer for the nice seating was arranged. I kind of like that Kate didn’t say they got special attention because, although acknowledging it is fair to the viewer, it just bugs me that they get stuff for just being on TV and hearing it would be annoying.

I’m guessing that Jon didn’t have to pay for the Utah accommodations. And, to my cynical eye, it looks like the ski place closed the tube run so just they could be on it. How nice for them.

Yes, it’s reality, their reality.

I complain because I’m jealous. Maybe I should quit complaining and try to figure out how I can get some special attention and have people giving me stuff left and right.

Natasha Richardson’s Death

I was unusually saddened by Natasha Richardson’s death. It’s not that it’s because she in particular is dead. I am stunned that what sounds like an innocuous fall could result in death. How easy it seems to be. People will say she should have worn a helmet or that the ambulance workers should have not been sent away without seeing her. The ski resort staff obviously knew what could happen, but do most lay people? It seems like a greater effort should be made to make people aware of the dangers of a head injury and what symptoms to look for.

When news first came out that she had been hospitalized and was considered to be brain-dead, my mind turned to the practical matters. After alerting her family about her circumstances, someone would need to get her things from her room and check her out of the hotel, maybe return a rental car, cancel upcoming appointments. Practical things that must be hard to do when faced with what was going on. Now any staff she employed, personal assistant or publicity people and others, are suddenly out of a job.

Although the ski resort says they followed protocol in how they treated her, I’m guessing they will be sued. It would be to point out that they should do more in the future to prevent this type of death. Things like having educational materials to give to people who may have suffered a head injury so they know what to look for, or to requiring helmets for all skiing and lessons, or even xraying everyone who falls.

It’s so tragic to know that this could happen to anyone. I wish that she could have lived to be able to use her noteriety to teach others what could happen.

Blueberry Muffins

Because I had about a cup and a half of huge blueberries that I picked in the summer, I looked on WordPress.com for a muffin recipe. I found one at sandgroper14.wordpress.com. Very easy and quick. The muffins are good and they freeze well. I was able to use more blueberries than the recipe called for and had no problems. It’s nice to have a reminder of summer to get through the last stages of winter!