working for your husband

Bad things about working for your husband



1. the pay sucks

2. he wants to spend all weekend talking about work related stuff

3. you can't complain to your co-workers about what a jerk your boss is

4. you can't call in sick when your just feeling lazy

5. it's impossible to quit



Good things about working for your husband



1. It saves the office a lot of money

2. you always have stuff to talk about

3. your boss can't complain when you talk to your (his) kids at work

4. your boss doesn't complain when you really are sick

5. it's impossible to get fired

worry

Well, I survived the holidays so that's one less worry on my plate. Everyone came and went on time, old clothes pulled out of the closet once a year still fit, the food was great (no credit to me-that's all my Mom), and we all made the services of our choice. We were lucky enough to get to hear Rabbi Marx on kol nidre. He was great, of course, and his sermon topic, fittingly enough , was on Worry. So perfect for my family, a dedicated group of worriers. All about finding the happy medium between worrying about all the wrong things and not worrying about anything at all. Of course easier to say than do but still a message most of us can't hear too many times. My favorite line; a parent is only as happy as their unhappiest child. Wow, that hit home. Most of my worries focus on my kids, even though there's little that those worries can change. It can be hard to relax or be happy if something is not working in their loves. Sometime, I feel guilty or weird that I'm so emotionally tied up with them. It's great to hear a line like that and know that so many other people feel the same way. Obsessive parents of the world, unite!

teachers

I have the greatest respect and admiration for teachers and consider them highly undervalued and under paid. Still , now and then I just want to beat one to a pulp. My S finally motivates himself to study and study his math until he masters it. He walks into and out of the test feeling confident. When we get it back we discover , that yes, he did learn the subject and got almost all of the answers correct. However, the evil, should be retired, math teacher lowers his grade two full grades because he didn't show his work! No wait, he did show his work, just not as much as she wanted him to. Does this women have any concept of how hard it is to 1) get a teenage boy to care about his work and 2)to then do something concrete and effective about it? Nice way to send him the message that trying is useless because I'll just find a way to screw you over anyway. So now, I have to e mail her (done), then when she refuses to do anything about it yell, cry and plead my way through the school administration. All of which will probably amount to nothing. I am already frustrated and I haven't even started the ordeal yet. It is so unfair to this kid. While he may bring some (lots?) of stuff on him all by himself in this case he did the right thing and is getting no positive reinforcement. Ugh!

collection update

Remember those collection idiots? Finally tracked down the credit card company they claimed gave them the debt info. After being transferred 8 times and leaving various messages I reach a live human being. The credit card woman assured me that that card was closed over a year ago and that I didn't owe a thing on it. No shit. The nice woman said she would call over there and straighten them all out. Cool. 45 minutes later guess who calls? Collections morons again. So I now have to dive back into voice mail hell. Ugh! Am I too old to run away to Europe and live off my waitressing tips?

Rosh H

OK, Rosh Hashanah was great. My D came home from college with 5 girlfriends . It was so much fun to spend dinner with such intelligent, interesting, funny women. I really like her friends and the fact that they are all so different from each other really makes a great evening. I hated having to get up from the conversation to serve and clean. Of course the credit all goes to my Mom who refuses to consider take in and makes the kugel, matza balls, brisket all from scratch. She is quite unhappy that no one else in the family ( translation: me) knows how to do any of this. For some reason she does not believe in her own immortality. We all blissfully ignore this notion confident that she will be here forever ensuring we are all well fed.

concerts

Last night I went to the Weezer concert. I love Weezer and they did not disappoint at all. They were amazing and played almost everything I wanted to hear. Still the whole night was definitely an odd experience. It was the first time I was at the same concert as one of my kids , excluding when they were of the age that they could only go with me. Running into my son in the aisles and lobby in between sets was both very fun and very weird. I'm sure he felt the same way ( at least about the weird part) . Now I haven't been to a concert in quite a long time. The last one was a move on.org fundraiser with REM and springsteen. At that concert lots, if not most, of the people were my age or close to it. Not so at Weezer. 99% were between 15 and 22 which I am not. Walking into the very crowded, smoky place was an odd sensation- like walking into the wrong party . If you've ever gone to one of those huge banquet halls and wandered into the wrong wedding or bar mitzvah you know what I mean. It all seems familiar and yet you know you just don't belong. Luckily no one pointed or laughed or attempted to humiliate us in anyway. Perhaps Weezer fans are polite or maybe just too stoned to notice us.

Some things haven't changed about concerts. Everyone still stands for much too much time forcing you to choose between aching legs or not seeing anything. Standing in front of me is the tallest person in the world. Standing behind me is a kid so far gone he keeps calling out for songs they have already played. What's new is the effect of phone technology. At least half the people spend the entire concert holding up their phones to filming video and snap pictures. The other half spend the concert texting everyone they know. Of course I thought this was annoying but pretty soon I was madly texting my son as well. So all in all, a great night.

do you know?

Just the other day a friend from college sent me an e mail. In one of those it's a small world scenarios her husband was talking to an artist he reps. She asked him if he knew her entertainment lawyer since he went to the same college as his wife. While this line of questioning rarely leads to anything in this case the lawyer was definitely some one I knew. He lived one floor below me freshman year, dated my best friend off and on for 4 years and was one of my roommates senior year in the worlds best and most insane house. In other words someone I saw almost every day for 4 straight years and then not once in the last 20.

Now college seems as real to me, and in some ways more real than things that happened last week or last year. I always assumed this was some weirdness on my part and that for most people the minor day to day of college has faded into ancient history. When my friend asked him if he wanted her to say hi, not only did he but he made a joke about how next time he gets the corner room. For some reason that one comment felt really great. Perhaps I'm not as strange as I thought?

holiday

So the holidays are rapidly coming on. I realize this is a religious holiday but g-d seems to be the last thing we ever focus on at this time. Right now we're consumed with the following:
1. what time do we have to close the office to be home in time for dinner.
2. how many people is my daughter bringing home for dinner?
3. how much soup and brisket do we really need?
4. how do we answer #3 without knowing the answer to #2?

As we get closer the major focus will switch to how early we have to arrive at services to get a seat? This will be the consuming topic of dinner. At least we don't have to worry about ugly political fights. There hasn't been a republican at holiday dinner since Roosevelt.

collections

Worlds lamest collection agency. Earlier today a collection agency ( or so they said) left "an urgent" message on the home machine. While I usually ignore anyone and everyone who calls I was curious. To the best of my knowledge we don't actually owe anyone any money. This is not because we're so wonderfully rich but because we ripped up all of our credit cards a year ago and now pay for everything with cash or debit. So no debt. When I called back all I got was an answering machine. I left my name and number. About an hour later a computer called me back! I pushed #1 to talk to a person and was disconnected. I suspect these are the same geniuses behind the housing crisis and the financial mess on Wall Street. Lots of bluster but not too much thought to minor details or major ones...

volunteering for Obama

I've been fairly depressed lately with the thought that Obama may not win the election. I know it's still many weeks away and the debates will matter alot but... I don't mind people who have strong feelings on one issue or another and feel he doesn't reflect their feelings but mostly it seems to be the race -not that anyone would admit it- or how cute and perky she is. I mean do you really want some one so uninformed running our country?

So hoping to feel better I went down to the local Obama office to volunteer. After a few hours I felt several new feelings. One; total guilt over any and all meanness I have ever expressed to pollsters, telemarketers and anyone on the other end of my phone line. Sorry. I wasn't bothered just by someone being a republican; one of my favorite calls was a 92 year old lady who said," my goodness darling, do you have the wrong house", then wished me good luck. The other feeling; hopefulness. In the few hours I was there so many people of all different ages came in asking to volunteer, give money, or get a lawn sign or button. There's still hope! I'll definitely be back.

working

In a lot of ways working is great. If your lucky the work is stimulating, or at least entertaining , it's fun having people to talk with, and it keeps you out of the mall. The problem comes in the moments when you don't have anything to do, or nothing you want to be doing. Then all you can think about is all the shows you'd rather be watching, the books you'd rather be reading and the errands you'd rather be running. Too bad I can't just work whenever I'm bored with the rest of my life...

Things I just don't understand

I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person but everyday I run across things that I just don't understand. They don't seem to be all that complex but somehow I'm just not getting it.
A few recent ones:
Why on earth is there a fed ex box right outside the post office. Aren't they competitors? Does McDonald's let Wendy's put a drive in right outside their front lawn?

What is with the Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld commercial. Are they selling shoes? Is there a fabulous mens' shoe named conquistador that I am unaware of?

Why am I unable to follow the Caylee missing little girl story? Every time I turn on the TV there's more reporting, none of which makes any sense. The other night random people were starting fist fights in front of the house. Are they tailgating there? What is going on and am I perhaps better off not knowing?

Why do so many rappers have the same name? Watched the video music awards the other night and there seemed to be an abundance of T's and L'lls. In every other medium artists go out of their way to be sure their name can not be confused with someone elses. Here they seem to go out of their way to do the opposite. What am I not getting?

my parents political wisdom

Sunday, September 7, 2008

politics and my parents
As usual my parents have the most apt comments on the political scene.From my Dad- McCain's 'thing' is that he is a huge patriot and in truth he has dedicated his life to public service in one form or another. But in picking Sarah P he has done a truly unpatriotic thing. He is a 72 year old with health issues attempting to take on one of the most demanding, stressful jobs in the world. The odds are not great that he would finish the term. And, for a jump in the pols and some media attention he is willing to sacrifice his country by leaving it in the hands of a person who is clearly not ready for the job. It is a disgraceful decision for anyone but especially for a man who claims love of his country as his greatest legacy.From my Mom- It always shocks me when I see people saying they vote Republican when that party clearly doesn't represents any of their social values or is even to their economic advantage. I think they believe that saying it makes people think they are rich and successful. Imagine voting based on impressing people rather than on what's best for your family. Totally disgusting.

Aren't they the best!

the kids tightrope

Monday, September 1, 2008

the kids tightrope walk
So Sept is here; one kid back at college, the other back to high school. I begin the excruciating tightrope walk between involvement and intrusion, between caring and nagging. With the college one it's the line between contact and harassment. If I had my way I'd talk or e mail or IM everyday. I want to know everything about her friends, her classes, boys. But I know I have to respect her privacy and let her have her college experience without me. So I sit back and wait for her to (hopefully) initiate contact and share.With the high schooler it's more a matter of swinging between micromanagement and letting him crash and burn all on his own. I know I can't obsess over every aspect of his academic life but on the other hand, how can I not? I am quite certain this tightrope does not come with a net.

sarah p

Monday, September 1, 2008

sarah p
Frankly, I;m just completely insulted by McCann's thought that women who supported Hillary will now automatically support Sarah P. I mean does he think we're some drunk frat boy who doesn't care between one set of breasts or another. Hey, I wanted to go home with the blond from New York but i guess the chick from Alaska will do. Does McCann think women are too stupid or lazy to notice that these two women have absolutely no values or opinions in common?