Monday, January 30, 2006
Married 23 years. Or not... Part of the application process towards gaining American citizenship -- something that hubby after 21 years in America is seeking (for pure practical purposes) -- is documenting every single trip you have taken outside of the U.S. since your gained permanent residency. Well thank god for stamps in your passport (even so some countries were lax e.g. Greece and we'll never be able to resurrect dates on those). It turns out that over the last twenty-one years here in America hubby has been on business trips that add up to close to two years away from home. Anna Bloviations noted that three of those business trips were over Anna Bloviations' birthday. One trip missed the son's birthday. Countless others fell over important soccer games, swim meets, teacher meetings, and the daily mundane doings of family life. But such is life when you work for the fickle software industry. Step up to the plate or you're gone. And even if you step up to the plate you may also be gone...
Gone again. Maybe, maybe not. The latest software company for which hubby works is in flux. The good news is that after all these years we have built up a hardened resilience that will get us through whatever may come down the pike. But it takes its toll. Or maybe not. There is an expression a good friend of ours imparted to us years ago: "Once you've crossed the Atlantic, you're always on the wrong side..." In other words, if you are the kind of person who has the balls to start a new life somewhere completely different you are by nature likely the person who is always crossing some kind of proverbial 'Atlantic'. It is seemly our destiny not to know continuum for more than a couple of year's stretch. And so we may begin again.
Random Notes:
Gone again. Maybe, maybe not. The latest software company for which hubby works is in flux. The good news is that after all these years we have built up a hardened resilience that will get us through whatever may come down the pike. But it takes its toll. Or maybe not. There is an expression a good friend of ours imparted to us years ago: "Once you've crossed the Atlantic, you're always on the wrong side..." In other words, if you are the kind of person who has the balls to start a new life somewhere completely different you are by nature likely the person who is always crossing some kind of proverbial 'Atlantic'. It is seemly our destiny not to know continuum for more than a couple of year's stretch. And so we may begin again.
Random Notes:
- sorry Jill Carroll but stop sobbing. You are a big girl who made a big girl decision. Live by it. Or, sorry, die by it.
- Kerry. Kiss any presidential aspirations you may have had goodbye. Bad call on the no-win filibuster.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Also inevitable: the fact that Ford will be laying off 30,000 workers and GM has posted an 8.6 billion dollar loss for 2005. Frankly I have zero sympathy there. That's what you get for building crappy gas guzzlers. That said, the U.S. car manufacturer's business model is really no less erratic and unstable than say the SOFTWARE INDUSTRY i.e. talk about a ship without a compass and having to have extraordinary luck!
Thursday, January 26, 2006
LIGHT, DARK, AND INEVITABLE
Definitely Light: yesterday the State House Business Office posted an email that read, 'Has anyone lost some money??????? Someone very honest has found and turned in $$ Money $$ to our office. Thank you, Annette.' The money was claimed.
Definitely Dark: Hamas winning in the Palestinian elections -- in particular that one of the women expected to gain a seat appeared on a video tape exhorting the sons of Palestine (including her own) to gain martyrdom by becoming suicide bombers.
Also Dark and Disturbing: Rumsfeld lashing out at reports from his own top, distinguished generals that the U.S. military is spread too thin. This administration will take down anybody, it seems, in its quest to delusional victory.
Inevitable: My mother's dog may have reached a record for longevity (in April my mother's briard would have been fourteen [astonishing for a dog that big]) but finally her ailing body was put to rest yesterday. Spoiled rotten that dog was but great. Like my uncle from Brooklyn always said, "None of us is getting out of this world alive..." Goodbye Haley.
Definitely Light: yesterday the State House Business Office posted an email that read, 'Has anyone lost some money??????? Someone very honest has found and turned in $$ Money $$ to our office. Thank you, Annette.' The money was claimed.
Definitely Dark: Hamas winning in the Palestinian elections -- in particular that one of the women expected to gain a seat appeared on a video tape exhorting the sons of Palestine (including her own) to gain martyrdom by becoming suicide bombers.
Also Dark and Disturbing: Rumsfeld lashing out at reports from his own top, distinguished generals that the U.S. military is spread too thin. This administration will take down anybody, it seems, in its quest to delusional victory.
Inevitable: My mother's dog may have reached a record for longevity (in April my mother's briard would have been fourteen [astonishing for a dog that big]) but finally her ailing body was put to rest yesterday. Spoiled rotten that dog was but great. Like my uncle from Brooklyn always said, "None of us is getting out of this world alive..." Goodbye Haley.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants in Massachusetts. The bill proposing this went down by a pretty large margin. My Rep voted for it and has been getting flak from constituents ever since. I say it went down because of a very poor choice of wording. What Massachusetts resident wouldn't get rankled at the thought of illegal immigrants being rewarded with a college education at the expense of the taxpayer? That's what it sounds like the bill would do anyway. The reality though was to help the 500 or so undocumented Massachusetts students out of the quagmire of their legal limbo. These students were brought here to the U.S. at an early by their parents who entered the country illegally -- in other words not of their own volition. So what were they supposed to do? Well, they went to public school is what they did. They studied, played sports, met friends, and dreamed (like their legal resident counterparts) of going to college. But then they hit the wall called You-have-to-pay-out-of-state tuition. This has meant the end of many dreams to pursue higher education and many of the students in question now are at low-paying, dead-end jobs. Keep in mind that these kids can't even begin to do anything about their legal status until age eighteen and unfortunately the process can take years and years. In essence we are punishing these students for the actions of their parents who entered the country illegally -- something the U.S. Supreme court has argued is unlawful.
A study by the Massachusetts Taxpayer's Association has shown that these undocumented kids with a college education will earn about double what those with only a high school education would. Translation: millions of dollars of income tax paid to the Commonwealth. So why not let these legal-limbo students go to college? This is not a liberal versus conservative issue. Even President Bush has embraced the reality that illegal immigrants are here to stay and has proposed that we make it easier to grant temporary visas (all the better to account for who is crossing the border). A well educated and skilled work force is what will keep America competitive and vibrant. So let's next time change the wording of this bill to something that reflects better its intent. Oh I don't know: In-State Tuition for Legal-Limbo Students or something like that....
A study by the Massachusetts Taxpayer's Association has shown that these undocumented kids with a college education will earn about double what those with only a high school education would. Translation: millions of dollars of income tax paid to the Commonwealth. So why not let these legal-limbo students go to college? This is not a liberal versus conservative issue. Even President Bush has embraced the reality that illegal immigrants are here to stay and has proposed that we make it easier to grant temporary visas (all the better to account for who is crossing the border). A well educated and skilled work force is what will keep America competitive and vibrant. So let's next time change the wording of this bill to something that reflects better its intent. Oh I don't know: In-State Tuition for Legal-Limbo Students or something like that....
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Oregon's Supreme Court Upholds Right-to-Die Law. Thank you Justice Anthony Kennedy: Wine, chocolate, and a little pink pill. Just let me go when the time comes....
Monday, January 16, 2006
All vestiges of college kids having been here are gone. In spite of 13 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures today we threw open the downstairs windows to air out the one-month-occupied-by-students living quarters. This was followed by afternoon sex because, heh the kids aren't here so we can romp in the bedroom whenever we want! Then roasted brussel sprouts and almost-raw tuna for dinner. The TV all for me. The silence when I turn off the TV (as opposed to it being on 24/7 whether anyone is watching it or not)...
But Anna Bloviations is brooding.... It is not the kids gone. Is it January? The nagging feeling of something imminent? Or is it the nagging feeling of something missed? We will meet a friend from Ipswich this month and then go to London to meet our best girlfriend from grade school. Replenish the soul...
But Anna Bloviations is brooding.... It is not the kids gone. Is it January? The nagging feeling of something imminent? Or is it the nagging feeling of something missed? We will meet a friend from Ipswich this month and then go to London to meet our best girlfriend from grade school. Replenish the soul...
Thursday, January 12, 2006
An EU passport to die for but... our kids have the opportunity to obtain EU passports given that they presently have dual citizenship (American and Austrian). Good parents are we that we are going through the arduous and painful process of paperwork involved in getting said EU passports. This process involves pain for parents AND kids respectively meaning that parents must sift through old not-as-organized-as-we-would-like files reminding us of where we used to live, to what places we have traveled, and the time-line of our children's lives. For the kids it means driving down a quarter of a mile into town to the photo shop that will take the prerequisite 5 cm by 4 cm (not standard) passport photos. Said kids must also pull up a Microsoft Word Resume template that will enable them to document their where-abouts and doings over their respectively short 21-year-old and 19-year-old lives. So let's have a heart attack that the passport photo guy is a bit challenged (but certainly not defeated) that he has to re-configure the passport photos to agree to the metric system. The daughter particularly seems dis-proportionately put out. My god young woman!... it's not yet a done deal but if you get this passport, you can essentially work anywhere in America and the European continent. And if you travel to Europe, you won't have to wait in those long annoying lines at customs like the rest of the fat Americans waiting to get through. Work with me girl...
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Wear White on the Subway. For Christmas I got a completely impractical winter-white wool coat that looks like a million dollars but my god how do you keep it clean? Well who would have 'thunk... There is an interesting thing I've noticed: when I wear my gorgeous white coat to work (which entails riding the subway many stops), I am suddenly the last person anyone sits next to.... It's as if there is some subliminal collective agreement to try and keep my coat clean by not sitting next to me. Brilliant.
Aging Notes. The wide girth afforded to me on the subway when I wear my white coat has also afforded me the time and space to people-watch... Note: men over forty-five shouldn't wear jeans nor leather jackets. They look lame. Women over the age of thirty-five shouldn't wear eye make-up save for a very subtle bit of mascara; they look old otherwise. Both sexes over the age of forty should only color their hair if they have a lot of disposable income to afford a good stylist; otherwise it looks awful.
Aging Notes. The wide girth afforded to me on the subway when I wear my white coat has also afforded me the time and space to people-watch... Note: men over forty-five shouldn't wear jeans nor leather jackets. They look lame. Women over the age of thirty-five shouldn't wear eye make-up save for a very subtle bit of mascara; they look old otherwise. Both sexes over the age of forty should only color their hair if they have a lot of disposable income to afford a good stylist; otherwise it looks awful.
Monday, January 09, 2006
The cell phone moment of truth. The son, you might recall, lost his cell phone somewhere in New York on New Year's Eve (intoxication surely factored into the equation). We suggested to him last night that he might want to get a very inexpensive phone as opposed to the $350 one he covets. He asks why. We tell him that once his plan runs out in 8 months, we will no longer be paying for his cell phone service given that he will have graduated college and be on his own in terms of utilities (including cell phone). If he buys a very cheap phone now, he can then opt for a different plan and probably get that 'phone of his dreams' as part of the sign-up package. One must go right for the quick.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
No significance or anything that Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon are seemingly going out within a year of one another.... Now what.... As my good Jewish friend Adam used to tell me, "The Jews and Palestinians deserve each other..." May they deserve each other better than these two leaders perpetuated upon one another and their people. Peace.
Monday, January 02, 2006
If there is a hell, I've always thought there would be three job options you got to choose from: working in a meat plant, toll booth operator, or doing data base entries all day. This while watching Catholic priests and all other religious hypocrites roasting on spits. However if there is reincarnation instead I've decided there is a hell to be had too: you could come back an emperor male penguin. The movie, Marching of the Penguins' shows those poor little bastards huddling for three months in 80 below arctic cold without food and balancing an egg on their feet underneath a protective sheath of feathers while the moms go back to the ocean to feed.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
1st brochure 2006. Here the inside section of a two-sided brochure for a fledgling local business that hired me to do some marketing for them. Time to completion 6 hours (includes consultation and edits after first design review). If we charge $25 an hour we've made $150. Hmmm. We'll have to add other projects if we want to get to 10K to supplement the State House salary... In this case, I'm not even taking cash. I'm opting instead for dog walks. Keep 'em rolling Anna.
Still a Kid. The twenty-one-year-old called to say he'd left his cell phone in some New York taxi. Was he expecting I call all of the NY taxi companies' Lost & Found numbers?
Not Going Down Like That. A friend and I got on the subject of birth control and I mentioned how happy I've been with the I.U.D. which the gyno says I may keep in until, gulp, menopause. My friend, on the other hand, had her's taken out claiming it made her periods heavier. "So what are you using for birth control?" I asked. Her response was that she isn't using any. "Don't you think that's a bit risky? I asked incredulously. A pregnant pause (no pun intended). "Well we really don't have sex very often so it's not really an issue. And when we do I have him use a condom." How sad. No wonder so many people are on Prozac.
Goals for the New Year. None really. Maybe build up my free-lance writing business to the extent I can bring in an extra 10K to get hubby off my back that I should be bringing in more... Oh and maybe a little electrolysis to get rid of a few stubborn chin hairs that have sprouted at age 46. Just a few mind you. Visible in the 5X magnifying mirror. Or should I wax...
Not Going Down Like That. A friend and I got on the subject of birth control and I mentioned how happy I've been with the I.U.D. which the gyno says I may keep in until, gulp, menopause. My friend, on the other hand, had her's taken out claiming it made her periods heavier. "So what are you using for birth control?" I asked. Her response was that she isn't using any. "Don't you think that's a bit risky? I asked incredulously. A pregnant pause (no pun intended). "Well we really don't have sex very often so it's not really an issue. And when we do I have him use a condom." How sad. No wonder so many people are on Prozac.
Goals for the New Year. None really. Maybe build up my free-lance writing business to the extent I can bring in an extra 10K to get hubby off my back that I should be bringing in more... Oh and maybe a little electrolysis to get rid of a few stubborn chin hairs that have sprouted at age 46. Just a few mind you. Visible in the 5X magnifying mirror. Or should I wax...
