A piece of a@!

Scott and I came up with this title during this evening's sailing race. (My apologies Scott, for using it before you could... there is always Lizards and Gizzards though ;)

Anyway, as I was saying, tonight was the final sailboat race of the year. I was pretty excited about it all day. Took off work a couple of hours early so I could make it. Called my dad to let him know I was coming. An hour after that he called back to say the boat had a full crew and I wasn't needed. Talk about a bummer! It sounded like I was being blown off, and I'm not sure where that came from, but I decided to go to the pier anyway. I figured the worst thing that could happen was I'd be told in person that there was no room, in which case I'd go to the store and spend some time looking at/for things I don't really need.

When I got to the pier, they were just about to pull away. I commented that they looked a bit full, but most of them said nonsense... that there was always room for one more. So I got to go sailing after all. I wasn't in the greatest mood though because of the earlier exchange with my dad. I felt pretty self-conscious the whole evening and somewhat useless. I was 'assigned' to the rail because the more experienced/aggressive crew was available to handle everything else. Ah well... I suppose the most important thing was I got to go sailing and drink beer with a few good friends.

Afterwards, as is our ritual, I went to dinner with Greg and Scott. My treat this time.I love the Silver Plate Diner's vegetarian chili! I'm not a big fan of chili usually, but I think I could live on that chili and be happy for a very long time. Afterwards, we went to Barnes and Noble. I replaced some of my outdated field guides and purchased some light Pharmacology reading material. Always fun to study up on anticholinergics, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers and such. Gotta brush up on my cardiac algorithms and other important meds if I'm going to keep my EMT I cert and regain my paramedic. I still can't believe I let it lapse!

Hmmm, I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open and my fingers coordinated to type this. I think it would be best for me to stop now and continue tomorrow or Friday. Maybe then I'll be able to think a little more clearly and offer more than the basics of my day. I actually did have a pretty nice conversation while I was out on the boat... but am too tired to consider it here at the moment.

To the one person I know reads this and anyone else who happens by: goodnight and sleep well!

New Hampshire and back again

It's been 4 days since I've seen my computer. I just got back from a whirlwind trip to New Hampshire and back. I rented a minivan, and drove up to Brentwood, NH with my sister and her boyfriend, my brother, and my two children. We left late Thursday evening, drove through the night and arrived there at 6 am Friday morning. The kids blessedly slept the entire trip. They woke up upon arrival and immediately commensed playing with their twin cousins. The rest of us tumbled into our designated bedrooms and slept for the next 3 hours. When we woke, it was time to get back in the van and drive another 2 1/2 hours to Jackson, NH for our cousins wedding rehearsal dinner.

I had wanted to get on the road a bit early because I wanted to make a stop in Conway. I remembered it as a beautiful New England town. I wanted to stroll through some of the shops and get an ice cream cone. I think I was driving the others crazy with my talk about stopping in Conway... well about 5 miles from the town we hit incredibly bad traffic. It was stop, stop, go etc... We were stopped for about 30 minutes before we got past the entrance of the Kancamagus Highway. By that time we were all frustrated. (I believe I said "Who's stupid idea was it to stop in Conway anyway?) We got up to the railroad tracks and I couldn't quite get across. I was nervous, and told the others to watch for trains. About 5 min later, I was able to get off the tracks, which was excellent timing. Less than a minute after that we heard a train whistle. The next obstacle was an intersection. The oncoming traffic was having a difficult time crossing our lane to make a left turn. Occasionally someone in our lane would let one of them go. When I got up to the intersection, in an attempt to be generous I let one of the oncoming vehicles across. That also allowed for traffic from the cross street to make a right turn into my lane. After the oncoming vehicle cleared my lane I proceeded to move forward. 2 cars from the cross street made the right turn in front of me, but then a big truck turned as well. The rude asshole driver cut me off and almost pushed me into oncoming traffic. Then he had the gall to stick his head out the window with the 'international peace sign' and attempt to wave me in right under his wheels. What an ass, a perfect representative of northern hospitality. No, I don't think everyone from there is like this, but this driver's actions didn't serve to increase my feeling of mutual respect for others. If I'd thought about it, I'd have taken a picture of his truck to post on here. (Thanks Scott!)

Despite the traffic jam in Conway, we were still running early for the rehearsal dinner, so we stopped for a little bit at outlet shops in North Conway. Got a few nice items from there. A beautiful sweater from Banana Republic, a matching set from Maidenform, a Schoolhouse Rocks CD, and a few t-shirts. Then it was on to Jackson NH. To the Wentworth Resort Hotel. We missed the turn off toward the town and took 10 min detour through other quaint NH towns before realizing our error. Once back on track, we went over the Jackson Covered Bridge and on to the hotel. It was so nice to be there. I saw Aunts and Uncles that I hadn't seen in a few years. It was nice to be with family. Everyone looked so good. My cousin Matthew looked great, grown up, self-assured, relaxed... What a change from the kid I knew. He's finished Medical School, is in his second year of residency and was marrying another doctor, a cute girl with a sparkling personality. They really suit each other. I liked all of Matt's friends. I wish that our family hadn't lived so far away. I think it would have been fun growing up with Matt around more than we got to see him.

After the dinner, we drove back to Brentwood for sleep, then got up at 6 am and did it all over again. Had to be at the wedding at noon. Drove back up there, this time with no traffic in Conway. Got there a little early, so went out for breakfast. Then to the wedding. The ceremony was interesting. The pastor was hilarious. He was from Korea and had mastered a preaching style that made him sound like an African American Southern Baptist Preacher. He emphasised every explosive sound in the alphabet. He also joked that he was the only yellow face in town.

He made good points, some that I'll probably never forget because of the way that he delivered them. He spoke of his interpretation of where the word 'trust' came from. Said it was a useless word... look at savings and loans, large corporations, casual friendships etc. All had pretty much appropriated and bastardized the word until it had very little meaning... Trust me.

Instead of trust, he prefered troth- T. R. O. T. H. as a vow. A much stronger word that encompasses everything a person is.

He had other wisdoms as well. He referred to the circle, of course, as representing eternity... which is how long the love should last in a marriage. He talked of drawing a circle on the ground and having the person that you love jump in the middle with you as a symbol of your T.R.O.T.H. so that no outside forces can destroy the marriage.

The thing that he said that will stick with me the longest though is this:
He said he was sick of people and other ministers saying that in marriage the two people became one. He said "Don't try to become entwined as one. You'll quickly kill each other! Instead stand together as 2 stronger individuals."

There was a long wait between the ceremony and the reception, so I decided to take a ride up to Mount Washington. The remnants of Hurricane Ivan were in the area, it was rainy, foggy, and I was still dressed for attending a wedding. I really would have liked to hike the Tuckerman Ridge Trail, but that's hard to do in a sleeveless dress and 2 inch heels. In fact, I was getting strange looks just going into the visitor center dressed as I was. Most of the people were dressed in various layers of wool, microfiber, gortex and the like. I supressed the urge to hike and instead bought a postcard with a picture of the mountain. That's the second time I've been there and not been able to do the hike. If I ever go back, I'm going to go prepared to complete that hike!!!

I returned to the hotel to catch the tail end of cocktail hour. Had a few, and some appetizers. Matt and Andrea had everyone head to the bar to sing "The Piano Man" while Andrea's brother played the song on the piano. Afterwards it was finally time for dinner. We met a nice couple, Adam and Andrea, who sat at the next table over from us. Andrea went to medical school at UVA. One of her classmates, Mark Dixon, went to highschool with my sister. We all marveled at the small world with so many connections.

After dinner, I wandered over to the hotel and noticed a college football game on- Notre Dame, and... Michigan State I believe. I also notice one of the wedding guests watching the game. Sat and talked with him for a bit. His name was Jake, also a doctor that works with my cousin. I enjoyed his company, and would have liked to stay longer to talk with him, but it was time to get going at that point. We still had the long drive back to Brentwood so that we could get a decent night's sleep before piling back in the van for the 10+ hour drive back to Chesapeake.

The kids didn't sleep much on the way back, but they were incredibly good for such a long ride. I was very impressed!

Well, that's pretty much the tale of our trip to New Hampshire. I didn't realize how late it had gotten. I'm going to have to get off here and try for some sleep if I expect to do anything constructive tomorrow.

Thursday night madness blends into Friday

Last night I was my Ghost Train meeting for work. The Ghost Train is our city's halloween event. Our park hosts it and I'm in charge of it. I enjoy working with all the volunteers, they are a great bunch of people, which is fortunate, because I don't particularly like the event. Halloween doesn't excite me, don't like the holiday. Don't like the dark symbolism around it. But, I am in charge of it and the people I work with are great. For those reasons, I will always do the best job I can possibly do with it.

Last night's meeting was completely draining though. There is just so much going on this year that my head reels with info each time we meet. I spend ALL my time working on this project and am behind in so many other things because of it. I've collected the script and had that approved, had the plans and materials lists approved. Been shopping for all the supplies (still not done because they keep coming back with more wishes and we have to find the companies to supply some of the products we need, but they also have to be willing to take a PO # from a city that refuses to fill out credit aps.) That's fun. Oh yeah, I've been asking for materials lists for quite a while. Finally got them and they expect me to just waltz to the store and pick things up yesterday when I've got to put the larger items out to bid... a minimum of a 3 week process... but wait... the event is in 4 weeks. How do I pull that off? Not enough turn around time to do this!!!

In addition to that, I've got to do all the data entry to keep track of the volunteers for security ID purposes. I've had to input all the program info for tickets to go on sale in the city and online. I've done all the advertising for the program... ticket sales flyers, volunteer recruitment flyers, PSA's, News Releases, posters, plywood signs, etc. Got to handle all the filing for the GT budget, volunteers, assignments, inventory, donations, sponsorships, script updates, etc. Searched for sponsors for the program, and have to make sure all the promises made to sponsors are kept per the contracts. (Got 2 sponsors this year, yeay!) Got to supervise between 60-100 volunteers during workshops and the actual 6 night long event. Have to find incentive prizes for the volunteers. Have to feed them and the regular staff dinners on all 6 nights. (hotdogs, subs and pizza) Have to run interference between park staff/management and volunteers over creative differences.

Have to do all that and still write the budget for next year's programs, finish the reports from this summer's special event series, review and revise the summer camp curriculum, plan the entire 2005 program calendar for my park and city park and a few outlying programs at other area parks. Have to look for more contractors to run these programs because the job is becoming to large for me to teach as often as I've done in the past. Have to gather all the program info for this winter and spring, and summer camps to be included in the city's leisure guide magazine. Have to continue to create flyers and get classes into the local newspaper.
Have to do all these things and still be available for regular phone calls and customer service at the front desk of the campstore.

Aaaauuuuuuuughhhhhhh!!! I'm going out of my mind! I am so far behind, I don't think I'll ever die. Can't... there's too much to do. I'm beginning to think I'm immortal...nah, slightly delusional is more like it... No wonder my head is reeling!

Didn't leave me in a very good mood today to start with. Luckily, I wasn't bothered too much. Actually got some things done today and left in a much better mood. Enough of that though. Too much complaining.

I did get a little chance to sit and watch nature. I took a small break and watched as a mud daubber wasp came to a mud puddle and collect some mud for her nest. Got to talking about that with the maintenance guy at the park. Some of my volunteers had noticed what they thought were mud daubber nests on Ghost Train props a few weeks ago. They smashed the mud tubes, and out came scores of spiders. They were racking their brains to figure out what kind of spider builds nests like a mud daubber. I mentioned this to the maintenance guy (Mike). He said that they were indeed mud daubber nests. That the insect makes the nest, goes and finds a spider, stings the spider and places it in the nest (stunned but alive). She then lays an egg on there and seals it up. The larvae then feasts upon the spider until it breaks out of the mud tube. Mike said that they broke them open and let the spiders out before the eggs could hatch into larvae and eat the spiders. I'm going to have to check up on the biology of that... Can't believe that I have a degree in the subject, but knew nothing of this. Then again, I never studied entomolgy. Also, I'd never taken the time to watch wasps before. It's amazing what you can learn when you open your eyes and observe what is around you!

On that note, I'll go to bed now. This was a pretty long post for me! Congrats if you made it all the way through the complaining, to get to the nature story at the end. Good night for now.

Wednesday Night Sailing

Today was beautiful. I had the day off, third in a row. Spent most of my day cleaning and cooking. I actually had dinner prepared and dessert waiting when my daughter got off the school bus. Might not sound like a big deal... but for me it definitely was. I almost never have time to do these things, so it would have been nice to have someone show appreciation. I was pretty disappointed when she said she didn't want to eat it and would rather play with her friend. It wasn't a gourmet dinner or anything... definitely kid friendly. I actually resorted to a guilt trip to get her to sit and eat with me.

Went sailing tonight. It was a nice night out, but the boat was overpowered in the 27 knot winds. We only had the head sail up. Didn't get a chance to put the main up, even with a reef. There was no committee boat tonight, so no official race... but 2 of the most competitive boats were out there and staged their own impromptu race. We joined them, but called it quits just before the end when the wind kicked up some more. Wasn't worth staying out there. Got back to the marina early. Greg, Scott and I went out for our weekly dinner, Bay Pointe Marina this time. Good food and interesting conversation... I'm glad it was an early night though, I'm actually tired now. First time in weeks that I think I'll get to sleep before midnight.

Oh, I have a new camera now. I liked Scott's camera so much, I had to get the same one for myself. As soon as I figure out all the features I'll add some of the pictures to the log.

Tomorrow I plan to go to the hardware store and get something to help me remove wallpaper. I'm also going to choose paint for the living room and kitchen. I've been thinking about doing this for months, but haven't gotten around to doing it. Now that I've put it in writing somewhere, I'm going to accomplish it.

Well... I'm going to get some sleep. I'm so excited about being tired, I probably won't be able to sleep anyway. How's that for irony?

Missed kisses

It's morning now. First day of school and just put my daughter on the bus. She justs walked right on with her friend. No kiss, no hug no "bye mom!" it's a huge change from last year. I'm glad she's becoming more independent, but at the same time... that's my baby! I miss the hugs and kisses she used to give in public without a second thought. I know that everyone says it, but they grow up so fast. I've heard it so many times, but it doesn't soak in until you have your own children.

It's time for the endless chores now. Actually, what I'll probably do is go back to bed for a while. I knew I'd be exhausted this morning, but still couldn't fall asleep last night. Finally made it around 1am, but had to get up at 6. I suppose some people consider 5 hours of sleep a luxury. Not me, I prefer a minimum of 7 hours. Sleep... yeah, that's what I'll do. Maybe I'll get around to a workout and the rest of the chores in an hour or two.

Hope I can sleep though, instead of thinking of those missed kisses this morning.

Introductions and the cats

My friend Scott introduced me to his weblog a few days ago. What a neat idea. I'd occasionally stumbled across other people's logs, but hadn't really given thought to starting my own until I saw Scott's.

I suppose I should introduce myself... I'm Lauren, a Park Ranger/Programmer at Northwest River Park in Chesapeake. It's a great job, lots of fun usually. Lots of responsibility too. More than most people would think (including my supervisor). It falls to me to design, schedule, market and teach, or find instructors for all programs at my park, to plan and execute all special events at the park, supervise all volunteers involved in my events, and to design all brochures, maps, and handouts for the park. In addition to that, they recently added an "s" to 'park' which means that I program ALL parks in the city now rather than one. (Except fine arts events and previously scheduled annual special events) As if that isn't enough, I still participate in routine daily customer service at the park store while juggling the rest of the responsibilities. Oh, and the occasional medical emergencies or park disturbances that a regular ranger would have to handle... except that I'm not armed as the other rangers are. All this responsibility and one itty bitty paycheck. The city government that I work for definitely believes in doing more with less. I think they will keep chipping away until they meet their ultimate goal: doing everything with nothing. Wow! That was really negative... I don't want to leave the wrong impression. I really DO like my job :-) It would be nice to have more help though. The park is beautiful too, anyone thinking of making a trip to the area should check out the website. www.cityofchesapeake.net click on Chesapeake Living, Northwest River Park. Nice lake, nice campground, nice programs!

I should be going to bed about now, but have a hard time sleeping lately. Tomorrow is the first day of school for my daughter. Lots of things are going on in our lives. School, work, taking care of the house, pets, girl scouts, rescue squad, YMCA. The list could go on if I let my mind wander more. I'd rather not though. I need a break from all the activities that we do. I get so wound up in the daily activities... might be some of the problem with not being able to sleep...

Hmm, right now I'm watching one cat chase it's tail while the other looks on. The cats are Clover (7 years old) and Taboo (less than 1 year old). Taboo came to us a little over a month ago. She's a cute little thing, but TROUBLE! She got her name from two sources. 1. We were forbidden by my husband from getting another cat 2. my son was watching tv and kept trying to say 'tugboat' while my daughter and I were thinking of names for the cat. His efforts at 'tugboat' sounded like 'taboo' thus the name.

Well, maybe I'll try to get some sleep now. I need to be up early tomorrow for the first day of school! Have lunches to make, the house to clean, girl scout meetings to plan, should put in some hours at the fire station too... I'll be happy when Wednesday gets here and I can go sailing!!!