The best of both worlds!

I'm tired today. And I'm cold. It's below zero outside and doesn't feel much warmer in here. My furnace is totally working, but it barely turns off these days. I am afraid to see what my gas bill will be!


My new position at work is kicking my butt, I have been going all day without any time for anything but - well - work! I like to ease into it a bit in the morning, but because the 'team' I'm on now is national, some of my co-workers are on the east coast, some on the west, and I'm right in the middle. I know that some of them on the east coast start work at something like 7:00am which means that by the time I get in at 8:30 some of those people have 2 and a half hours head start on me! So I get to work and hit the ground running.


It's not a race, but there is always competition and the feeling that people are looking at you sideways because look how much they have gotten done before you even get into work!


I am glad to have gotten the new position, happy to learn new things and even if I whine I really would rather be busy, this week has just flown by! Still - there is that lingering sense of not being good enough and needing to prove myself. So, I am working very hard.


Before leaving work I started my car and let it warm up for about 10 minutes, and when I crossed the frozen tundra that is our parking lot - got in the car - it.was.still.cold. Warmer than outside, on it's way to being warm, but even my car's heater has trouble keeping up with this cold. Br-r-r-r.


Stopped on my way home and got my hair cut because we all know it's a great idea to expose our ears to the fullest extent when the temps drop below zero! Seems I tend to do things backwards like that. Get the short haircuts when it's cold out and sweat with the hair on the back of my neck when it's warm.


Feeling all fancy with my new haircut I decided to stop at the drugstore. I have been out of makeup remover wipes, cloths, whatever you want to call them. I love the little plastic box where I can lift the lid and pull out a cloth as easily as a tissue. Realizing I was out a couple nights ago there was something like panic. Okay, mild panic. How will I get my makeup off!?!?!?!? As if I wasn't wearing makeup before these things were invented.


It's amazing how spoiled we are, I know I have easily slipped into the simpler way of doing things. I remember having conversations with my daughter in particular, telling her there were no microwaves when I was a kid. No, there certainly wasn't any Internet because OH MY GOD there weren't even any personal computers back then. Our phones were rotary, cell phones didn't exist, and when they did - they were bolted into your car with a battery the size of a shoe box in the trunk!


I am glad we have all the things that make life easier now, but boy does anyone else get thrown for a loop when some convenience goes haywire, or runs out, or dies? The microwave is broken? Wailing - what will I do-o-o-o??! How will I cook??


Now though, I have a new convenience I am determined to acquire. Whether I can buy it or have to rig it myself, I have to have this. How much time do I spend on my laptop in the evenings? I don't even want to admit how much. So this, this is what I am determined to have. Okay? Even the Mayo Clinic is saying this is a good thing to do!



The object is not to run or even walk fast. The recommended way of doing it is to run the treadmill at a slow walking speed. Slow enough so you can use your laptop effectively, whether for work or for fun, it's 100% better than SITTING behind the computer!




Like I said, I don't know if there is something affordable I can buy, or if I can figure out how to set something up on my own, I have to confess that nothing holds my attention quite like the computer does these days.



This? $6500.00. Yeah, that's not happening anytime soon. At least I think the price includes the treadmill!
*

Sometimes it's worth it.

So I stuck my neck out. I knew I was taking a risk but I decided to. It was all such a minor thing to me - seemed like a nice thing to do, thought if I did it - maybe some others would take my lead, ahem.

The Etsy forum police were out and they shut me down. I did the smart thing. I ducked. Then I left. :) Before it had a chance to actually get bad. Amazing. I'm talking about 'Kitty' below. Reading through the forums today I came upon a post from this Etsyian whose son is competing in a photography contest, a pin up photo contest. Well, I like pin up art so it caught my eye. I went to the contest site and I really did (do) think her sons photos were the best. I voted for his pictures but it was obvious to me that being a small contest - it very well could come down to who had the most friends. I wanted to have more people look at it and make up their minds - knowing full well they would pick Kitty once they saw the pictures.

I bumped the thread up a couple of times but it kept dying, people weren't paying much attention. I offered to add the link to my blog - hoping a couple other people would do the same thing. I think it was the lack of interest or response that got me going. As far as I know, no one put the link on their blog. That was in Etc.

I moved to Promotions - started a thread - said - who would like .. to help support another Etsyian? Please check my blog and vote! ONE person responded. ONE. Then the thread died a very quick death. Promotions is a tough place to keep a thread alive because people are climbing all over themselves to plug their shops. It's the nature of the beast and I was afraid of that when I posted there. So I decided to be daring.

Dum de dum dum DUM!!!! Hear it? It's ominous isn't it? Pppbbbttthhh - my version of a raspberry. I went into .... Buying and selling. My thought was - this isn't really a promotion because I'm not trying to sell anything, and it's not even for me. Maybe in the Buying and selling forum - people might stop long enough to at least look at the link before deciding not to respond to it and letting it die.

WRONG.
************************************************************************

THERE REALLY WAS SOMETHING HERE

************************************************************************
There were a few people who said they looked and thought Kitty really was the best and they voted. One of the gals convoed me and said she was upset about how people treated me and actually started a brand new thread about how people treat others in the forums sometimes. I've done that - sent a convo to someone about something that was said in the forums because if I had said it in the middle of the thread I would have gotten jumped on. (just made a sale while I was typing this) :)

Why do people feel the need to just shut somebody down just because they don't like where they posted? Isn't that Admin's job? Admin DID move it to Etc in the middle of that, but I bet it wouldn't have gotten moved if no one had objected. What was the harm? I wasn't saying - hey everybody - look at this it's really cool - only to have it be something I am trying to sell! I do not even know this seller or her son. Never even saw her name in the forums before. I honest to God was just trying to be nice. That's all. So shoot me.

There wasn't a whole lot to the thread because I wasn't going to stay and play. If it starts out that way - then the best thing to do is back out and be quiet. Do they win that way? No, I don't think so. It leaves their snotty remarks echoing out there and that's what people remember. I hope that's how they want to be seen because the Internet is a permanent record.

So I guess this blog is MY permanent record and I stand by it.

One good thing that came out of that forum stuff tonight was that it sent me outside for a walk. I so enjoy walking at night, up and down the sidewalk past all the homes smelling the smells and hearing the crickets. I always bring my cell phone with me since the night I was walking and broke my ankle in the freezing rain, in the dark, alone, in front of a house where obviously no one was home. But that's another story for another day.

Tonight the air was heavy but not as bad as the last couple of evenings after the strong rain we had this afternoon. The ground was wet but not so much that there were puddles to navigate, although I am still very careful now about where I put my feet. Walking past someone's house I could smell their laundry in the dryer - the sweet smell of fabric softener wafting out of a dryer vent. There was the smell of garlic as I was passing one house, yum, and cologne when I passed another as if a man had just exited his car and walked up to his front door.

Someone's 2nd floor window showed the flickering light of a TV playing on the wall of a child's bedroom, blue with orange fish and a mermaid. It was very quiet but there was activity here and there, it was nighttime activity. People getting ready to end their day, closing up their homes and putting kids to bed. Very peaceful.

It was good to walk, good to breathe in the warm air and breathe out the stress and frustration. Ah-h-h. I feel better now.

By the way - can you take a look at the link below? :) I still think it's a nice thing to do. :)