Saying ‘I love you’ and meaning it

For the first time in my life, and I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that, I said “I love you” to someone and meant it.

I love my friends John and Jess. They are my go to people and I theirs if they asked for it. In the spirit of Grey’s Anatomy, if they called me to move the bodies I’d help. They are the two people I can sit down with and really just be myself and not filter myself at all. There are no walls, no pretenses, no hesitation. And oddly enough, no judgments either. I paused before writing that because I wasn’t sure of it, but I think over the years we’ve come to really respect the core of each other’s being and don’t judge each other. We listen, but we don’t judge in a negative or condemning way.

They’ve left today for Austin Texas (well actually their flight leaves on Saturday but they’ve moved out today) but they are in effect out of my world. They are a rock my life rested on. They are the people I went to when I was happy. My therapy when sad.

“[they were] my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.”

We will still love each other, even when they are in Texas. But it won’t be the same.

raising a child, why not dual part time?

Just a thought. Why not have a law that says if both parents want to work part time to raise their child for the first, say 3 years, they could. The two companies would have to let them work part time and the two companies would combine to pay the health insurance costs.  I don’t think I explained that well. If the couple decided to use spouse A’s health insurance then the employer of spouse B would pay for half of the plan (giving the money to the employer of spouse A or directly to whomever).

The result of John and Jess splitting time raising their wonderful child Jordan, is the great bond that’s formed between Jordan and both parents. My idea would allow the parents to not have to pay for day care, allow the parents to work, and get full quality coverage that’s not too expensive.

I should run for President.

Beer Review: Wild Blue, Blueberry Lager

Beer: Wild Blue , Blueberry Lager
Brewer: Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Source: Draught
Rating: -* (-1 of 10)

Comments: The worst beer ever. Do not serve to friends and foe alike. A syrupy, yucky, disgusting experience. Should be served with the worst of the energy drinks.

NBA refs

Go Steve!

http://hoopstips.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/nba-refs/

He is such a good writer, and, to boot, I think he’s nailed this topic.

shoes & podiatrist

Yesterday I went to my appointment at Brine Sporting Goods in Watertown ( 617-876-4218 ). Once or month, or less depending on demand, a podiatrist comes in to the store and helps people select the proper shoes and supports for their feet. It’s great. I went last year and my feet left extremely happy. This time it no different. Not only did she confirm that the chacos sandals I purchased at REI provided excellent arch support for a sandal, she confirmed some of the things I’ve been working with my PT (knee problems). Then she selected the same shoe as last time, confirming the wear on the bottle of the sneaker was even and that the sore dawg inserts were still right (they were too long and trimmed the new inserts to properly fit my new Brooks shoe).

My feet are smiling again. I highly recommend going to Brine Sporting Goods and taking advantage of this service. Yes, you’ll probably pay more for the shoes compared to going elsewhere, but when combined with getting the advice of a specialist and taking care of the rest of your body by having good support for your posture, I firmly believe you are getting a bargain.

Karaoke Tryouts

If I were to join the crack Karaoke team, there are a few songs I’d imagine pulling out and blowing people away with. Can I sing them? Maybe, but I’d love to try these songs rock:

this is my smoky bar song, or my come hither song:

I would kick ass!

A Cappella: I Wear My Sunglasses At Night

Tongue-Tied does an OK vesion:

but I want to focus on the stereo aspects of such a performance. Break the group up into three, well four parts: channel left, right, center and a soloist.  The background tones would shift from group to group which I think would be the hardest to get right in such a performance.  I’ve seen a lot of a cappella in my time and haven’t seen anyone try this.

ATM fees

Last time I checked:

Winter Hill: $1.25

Sovereign: $2.00

Brookline Bank: $1.50

Citizens: $2.00

Wainwright: $2.00

East Cambridge: $2.00

Bank of America: $2 (I think back down from $3)

setting up friends: rule of engagement

There’s two ways that title can be taken, I’m selfish so it’s about setting up me. Hey, it’s my blog it’s all about me. So here are my thoughts about setting me up:

Do not volunteer to set me up mention someone interesting and then DO NOTHING. Case in point a friend told me about a wonderful coworker he wanted to set me up with and then when I asked him about that three weeks later he said, “oh she’s dating someone now.”  OK, a little annoyed but good for her. Then later I hear that she’s getting married and even worse, HE SET HER UP WITH THE GUY. This is a worst case example of course, but there is a rule I’ve derived from this (and similar scenarios):

If want to set me up, don’t tell me about the person until they’ve seen my picture and want my email address. I’d rather not be strung along by a stream of “oh this person” and “she’s great”.

password to bypass spam

I gave a a friend of mine my email and later in the day wondered if his email would be caught by my spam filter and I would never see it again. I don’t check my spam folder because, well, that’s the point of the spam folder. So, I thought, perhaps if a trailing flag on the email could be specified to bypass spam. For instance:

johndoe@foobar.com?spampw=let_me_in

johndoe would configure their spam folder to let anything in that had the right password, otherwise the email would have to pass through the spam filter and maybe blocked. While I like the idea, I think it might increase the processing demand on servers. However compare that to the processing saved by not having to run it through the entire gamet of the spam filter. Google are you listening? There might be something to this.