Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Cranberry Orange Bagels and Schmear

It’s my Monday. Luckily for me, when I came into work today, I was treated to bagels and fruit for breakfast. Good thing I didn’t eat my ClifBar before I came to work, so I could enjoy all the carbs offered without guilt.

What a week – month – this has been! I’ll give you the basic run down.

  • Mom is doing okay. She is home, safe, and recouperating. She has a slight infection, but it should clear up soon. She’s hurtin’ pretty bad. I wish there was something I could do to alleviate her pain.

  • I got a cold. A real annoying one. I can be fine, then the next day, I feel like I am dying. It comes back for a couple of days and then leaves. I know it has something to do with the weather, but it is so annoying!

  • Hell Froze Over – Lorene and Dylan got married. It was beautiful, simple, and perfect. I don’t know many people who walk down the aisle to Metallica (“Nothing Else Matters” performed by 4 cellos – Gorgeous), but it was perfect for the two of them. She even wore white, to the astonishment of us all. (just kidding, Lorene)
    I think Dylan's vows had everyone crying - and laughing - and they were perfect. Lorene's were eloquent and beautiful. I think my favorite part of the ceremony was when the overcast clouds we were so worried about parted to reveal the sun right as they were exchanging their vows. It was moving.
    I took pictures – oh, yes, I took pictures – and I will post some of the best ones on here. Toni’s gratuitous boob shot, Shane demonstrating how to grab someone’s butt, Dylan looking evil as he was holding a piece of wedding cake. Oh, yes. I captured it all!
    Thanks to Lorene and Dylan for asking us to participate by greeting their guests at the book and gift table. We were honored.
  • Onto the next wedding, Summer and Karen, this Saturday. Poor dears – their cake lady backed out on them, so I called the bakery who did Dylan and Lorene’s cake and they will do an emergency cake for me. How WONDERFUL! Talk about service and style – these guys have it all. Of course, it won’t be HUGE like Lorene’s but it is perfect – exactly what they wanted – maybe even a little more stylish! Lindi and I are buying their cake for them as a wedding present. They are on a tight budget and it's something we can do for them.

  • Sarah has been given the opportunity to study abroad for part of her Senior year. We are excited and a little scared, but we think it's an amazing opportunity for her, so we support it. We may be having a fundraiser to get her there, but that's okay!

  • Looks like I will have to cancel my trip to San Fran for October. I knew this might happen when I changed jobs, but it's really true now. I love my job, I feel so valued and don't dread coming into work. I am still at 100% Member Satisfaction and 100% in Quality, so I am good on that front. eBay is the bomb.

  • October 1st, Lindi and I are smoke free. We have the patches and are gonna do it. All I need to do is think about my mother on a respirator to remember the feeling I had - that I never wanted to see Lindi that way, and certianly not for her to see me that way, either. We will do it!

    Well, that sounds about right. Back to the flow. Leave me a message and I will get right back to you!

    • posted by Connie aka The Goddess (CrimsonDove) at 9/28/2005 | 0 Comments

    Friday, September 16, 2005

    Update on My Mother - ICU

    Mom came through the surgery okay, but had a bit of problem with her lungs. The surgeon discovered she has COPD which is a very serious lung disease caused by years of smoking. They were able to replace her aortic valve, and kept her sedated and on a breathing tube. She was touch and go through the night, but as of about 15 minutes ago, they removed the breathing tube and she was able to whisper the Lords Prayer with Father Matthew.
     
    It looks like the worst is over for now. Mom is in the Critical Care unit. She can have limited visitors every couple of hours. She should be in a regular room (barring any further problems) tomorrow.  
     
    Thank you for all your love and prayers.
     
    Connie, Lindi and Family
     
    PS: Yes, Lindi and I have set our smoking quit date of October 1st.


    posted by Connie aka The Goddess (CrimsonDove) at 9/16/2005 | 0 Comments

    Saturday, September 10, 2005

    I KNEW IT! (Thanks, Snopes.com!)

    Claim:   Osama bin Laden has been sighted in Utah.

    Status:   False.

     

    Origins:   In the speculation-drenched weeks that followed the September 11 terrorist attacks, the one expected rumor that Have you seen me?failed to surface was of the "Osama bin Laden spotted at a Starbucks in New Jersey" ilk. Sightings of the dread enemy walking among the populace he menaces are a common form of wartime scuttlebutt and serve as an expression of the reality of the danger he represents. A rumor of that nature works to keep the minds of those on the homefront focused on whom they are fighting and how great an evil he embodies; they make the threat he represents seem more real to those who might otherwise feel somewhat distanced from the conflict underway in another theater.

    Yet Osama was in Afghanistan, as events soon revealed. Moreover, the US was locked down — anyone of even vaguely Middle Eastern appearance was going to be heavily scrutinized before being allowed entry into the Land of the Free. Could the rumor survive in the face of those odds?

    It did indeed. Rumors about bin Laden's living in the Salt Lake City area have been rife. Those who look for something plausible to hang their gossip hats on point to that area's desert-like conditions and purported tolerance towards plural marriages as reasons why The Contractor would choose to set up housekeeping there. (Yeah, right. He kills thousands of innocents and is the target of the most intense manhunt in history, but he doesn't want to risk getting in trouble for having too many wives.)

    According to The Salt Lake Tribune, "Federal agents in Salt Lake City say they have recently fielded dozens of reports that the accused terrorist mastermind has been spotted on the freeway, in the mall or enjoying a Big Mac and fries at McDonald's." FBI Special Agent Kevin Eaton is quoted in that same article confirming the number of such reports his office has had to field. "It is pretty surprising how many people really believe he is here," Eaton said.

    Lt. Charles Illsley of the West Valley City Police Department likens the recent wave of bin Laden sightings to the Ted Bundy sightings that followed his 1977 escape from a Colorado jail and offers the following keen insight into the phenomenon: "When day-after-day media reports focus on a single person like Bundy or bin Laden, it is not too big a leap for somebody to go outside and think they see him. Images stick."

    During World War II, although the Nazis did not make it to America, rumors about enemy agents sauntering the streets of various towns in the USA did. Hitler wasn't spotted here, but his minions were — they were seen furtively signalling U-boats and laying out markers to guide bombers to their targets. They turned up in truck stops and restaurants looking as unremarkable as anyone else until some small sign inadvertently revealed them for who they were.

    Then (as now) the FBI was bedeviled by a constant barrage of false reports, each of which had to be investigated. According to the rumors afoot then, saboteurs lurked behind every post, and often we initially assumed strangers were enemy agents and only grudgingly afterwards acknowledged them to be mere folks who had just arrived from another town. Simple actions that in peacetime would have drawn no comment suddenly appeared ominous — a man spotted notebook in hand near a viaduct over railroad tracks immediately became the subject of a rumor that he was checking troop movements and shipments of war supplies. Upon investigation, that man turned out to one of the city's smoke inspectors. The actions of a couple staying in a seaside hotel (they lowered the shades for privacy and opened the window to catch the breeze) sparked a rumor that enemy operatives were signalling to submarines lying offshore. And so it went.

    The threat of enemy action on American soil is far greater these days than it was even at the height of the Second Great War. Rumors about honey-skinned terrorists abound, but it needs be stressed that even though there's more to fear now, those rumors are just echoes of similar ones heard over half a century ago. Though the reality may be different, the perception of danger is not, and that is what people react to and express through the rumors they exchange.

    The citizenry of the 1940s knew the visage of evil as that of Hitler's, whereas their counterparts of the 2000s recognize it as bin Laden's. It is thus no wonder they search for his face in the crowd.

    Barbara "faces of death" Mikkelson

    Sightings:   Canada's popular weekly satire TV show The Royal Canadian Air Farce has run "Bin Laden Watch" segments sporadically since the terrorist attacks. Photos of Osama are inserted into donut shops, dollar stores, and the like, or he is shown chairing a meeting of the Board of Directors of Nortel.

     

    posted by Connie aka The Goddess (CrimsonDove) at 9/10/2005 | 0 Comments

    Friday, September 02, 2005

    Can't Feel My Feet...Gotta Keep Moving...

    I don’t know what to say. These past two weeks have been absolutely insane. I can’t remember the last time I felt so out of control in my life. Let me give you the run down…

  • Last Thursday: friend #1 is taken to the U hospital where she stays for 4 days

  • Last Friday: Friend #2 is taken in for surgery, comes out okay, thank the Goddess

  • Saturday: Friend #3 goes into the hospital with an punctured appendix. She is still in there as of today, receiving blood transfusions and antibiotics. She won’t be released for another 3 days at the least. She lost her job and has to withdrawal from her College courses. It breaks my heart.

  • Sunday: Friend #4 enters LDS hospital, inpatient, for detox, again.

  • Wednesday: Mom has an echo on her heart, her mitro valve is failing, she is scheduled for another test on September 8th to determine if she will need open heart surgery with a valve replacement or another type of surgery.

  • Wednsday: Friend #4 leaves rehab, proceeds to drive to the nearest bar and get drunk. Her partner calls me, devastated, and we talk it through.

  • Thursday: Friend #4 looses her ever lovin’ mind and decides she is going to move away again because she can’t handle being sober. Whatev.

    Plus, during all of this, Katrina pounds the crap outta New Orleans and I am worried as hell about Tubbs. I can’t even imagine what she is going through. I wish there were a way to get her on a cargo plane that’s coming back to Utah. She could stay with me. I would get her a job at eBay. It would be awesome-o.

    It is all I can do just to take it day by day and roll with it. I am grateful I can be there for my friends when they need me, but I am feeling really thin. I am grateful for the couple of friends who called just to “check in” on me… I guess since I am not updating my blog regularly, it’s hard to know what’s going on in my life!

    Luckily for me, I get a four-day weekend since I am converting to my new schedule of having Monday/Tuesday off. Lindi is taking me to Wendover to celebrate my b-day early, since I have to work on my birthday – just a couples getaway. That sounds perfect to me. I don’t even want a party this year. I am so overwhelmed, I could scream.

    Let’s pray things get better. I don’t know if I can handle anything more.

    • posted by Connie aka The Goddess (CrimsonDove) at 9/02/2005 | 0 Comments