Good morning, eh!
Well, I am in Toronto… “my country away from my country”. It really has become like a second home to me now. I walk into the hotel and the people know me, I walk into the Tim Horton’s (the Starbucks equivalent in Canada) and they know me, I walk into Boston’s Pizza (we only eat dinner there or at the hotel) and they know me… by the way, if you are ever at the Boston’s in Mississauga ask for John, tell him Martha sent you and he will take care of you. I am really starting to know Canada. I know to stay clear of the Mexican food. It is ridiculously bad. The Italian food isn’t good, but isn’t bad… stay away from the tomato sauce dishes. My advice… eat at Wendy’s it tastes the same everywhere!
This is the last “update…” of 2007! I can hardly believe that the year is coming to a close. I can hardly believe that 2008 it staring me in the face. I am excited for the new year, I am excited to see what it brings and where I go from here. 2007 has been a great year for me, it truly was the “Year of the Martha”. I had a lot of good things go on with my career (some bad, but who remembers those?) I have made some great new friends and even gotten closer with some current friends. I have made some amazing memories this year, many of them documented in the “update…”. I think that my favorite memory this year is the trip to New York for my sister’s birthday. I have been to New York many times, and I really love the city. But this trip was so different for me. I had never been to the Big Apple with anyone from my family, and let me tell you that was the ingredient that made that trip one of the best. I have to admit I love my mother, my sisters and my aunt, but more importantly I really like them as well. I like to be around them, I like all of the laughter and all of conversation. The trip was fabulous, and there are a few things I will never forget. I will never forget getting into a limousine to get from the airport to hotel and then back again… how Vegas were we? I will never forget how Mary Pat looked in her sparkly new diamond earrings or how she complained about not wanting to go to high tea and then loved it! I will never forget how iceberg cold it got on the top of the bus during the night tour. I will never forget the “wild card” meals. I will never forget the 813 times that my sisters and I had to stop and wait for my mom and aunt to catch up. I will never forget how the trip seemed to be literally charmed… I remember walking into Angelos and the place was packed, our reservations weren’t for 15 minutes and so we thought we would belly up to the bar, and we did only to find that that were exactly five seats at the bar, and it was like they were literally waiting for us. It was the highlight of my year and I cannot wait to see what happens next year. But let me share one last story to close out 2007.
Now, the one thing that has been told to me by a few people that are close to me… is that they are careful what they say and do around me for fear that it might end up in an “Update…” and I have to admit I can understand the concern. I can understand it, but it doesn’t deter me in the least. I actually doesn’t really even enter my mind as I sit down to type.
This last story isn’t about me. It is about my nephews… Mason and Mitchell to be specific. Mason and Mitchell live in the Phoenix area with my twin brother and his wife. They are eleven and eight respectively and are really coming into their own with their own ideas and own agendas. Unfortunately these two kids have not yet learned that communicating these ideas and agendas is really to their benefit as it is much as it is to those they live with. So, let me set the stage a bit. My brother works for Wendys as a district manager, in his own words this is the “hardest job in the company”. My sister-in-law Mendy has been promoted to manager of her group which makes the helmets that infants wear to correct skull formation problems. Mason and Mitchell both attend Montessori school that is located more than 45 minutes away from their house. They live in a two story house where all the bedrooms are upstairs, and where every morning is a race to get out the door.
A couple weeks ago my sister-in-law is getting ready to walk out the door, put the kids in the car, race them to their school, and then speed to work in order to start her day filled which had a “to-do” list that seemed endless. So, she grabs her purse, grabs her car keys, and the kids are parading out the back door into the garage. Mason stops and says “Mom, our Christmas dinner is tonight and I signed you up to bring stuff!” Mendy, a veteran at this sort of thing by now, calmly says “Ok, what do I need to bring?” Mason looks at his mother without missing a beat and says “Lasagna for 80”. It was amazing the matter-of-fact tone he used to drop this bombshell on his mother. This kid had never breathed a word of this to Mendy, she had no idea it was coming… and he what did he sign her up for? Not drinks… not chips and dips… not even dessert… but “lasagna for 80”. I am sure the words were still hanging in the air when she finally regained consciousness. She looked at her beloved firstborn and said “No way! Mason, first of all, I don’t even make lasagna! Second of all, I am leaving for work there is NO time to make LASAGNA for EIGHTY!! We are not doing this”. She takes the bull by the horns and calls the school to verify, and yes, Mason had signed her up for that. What was this kid thinking? She told the lady that her son had not informed her of this ahead of time and that she was not going to be able to whip up a steaming hot batch of lasagna for eighty before the dinner started. She told her “Look, I cannot bring lasagna so what else can I bring that I can pick up at the store”… the settled on something and catastrophe was averted. Now, the one thing you can take away from all of this is to go ahead and tell you kids every year when the school year starts, “if you are ever asked to contribute to a pot-luck party… remember, sign me up to bring the paper plates!”. You have to preempt those sort of things.
Now you would think that the lesson was learned, that Mason would think from then on… gee, if I need my mom’s help on something I should tell her in advance. Oh no, not my nephew… he takes after his dad! This may be a boy thing, I am not sure. Last Monday or Tuesday (cant remember which) Mason wakes up and tells his mother “Oh my gosh! We have to leave early I need to go to Target!!!” Mendy, still a pro, calmly asks “What do you need to get at Target”. My nephew then proceeds to tell her that it is “secret Santa” day and that he needs to bring a ten dollar gift, and of course he doesn’t have one yet, and he needs it TOOOOO-DAY! So, Mendy puts her morning into overdrive. She tells Mitchell, Mason’s brother, that they need to leave early so he has to hustle. They are all racing through the house, oddly enough they looked like they were on one of those time-elapsed videos, you know everything is really choppy but moves ten times faster. Anyway the zoom out of the house and Mendy makes gets them all into Target in time for Mason to shop for his secret Santa gift. Mason is a slow shopper and he is doing his due diligence and trying to pick a ten dollar treasure that will be the most popular gift! Mitchell is standing by watching him shop, and getting more and more frustrated… finally he cant keep it in any longer. He looks at his brother and says “You are wasting MY time”. Mason is a little shocked and says “What?” Mitchell persists, “You’re wasting my time! This is my time and you are wasting it. I could be watching TV or eating my breakfast or just relaxing and you are wasting my time!” Mason, tries to get something out, and Mitchell cuts him off and says, “When we have to come here tomorrow to get MY gingerbread stuff for school, I don’t want to hear any complaining from you!” Mendy about falls over, “WHAT?!?!?! You need gingerbread house making supplies for tomorrow and you weren’t going to say anything? We are here!!! We are getting it now!” She marches this kid over to the baking aisle and gets the supplies. Can you believe that? He was going to wait until tomorrow to lay that one on his mom! I love this. The irony in that is just so amazingly thick, and these kids are just so incredibly funny.
That does it for and for the year! Hope you all have a fantastic holiday season…
Peace, love, and lasagna for 80!
Martha
Update... Dec 3, 2007
I am feeling very “Sound of Music” this morning… like I should be spinning around like a crazy person on a mountain top with my Julie Andrew’s chili bowl hair cut, smile carved deep into my face and singing wildly with my arms flailing in every direction.
Bon Jour… Good day… Buenos dias… and Hello-oh! I’m sure…. You want… to hear my update, let’s go-oh! Dee-ta-ta-leet-da-da-leet-dee-dee… Dee-ta-leet-dee-dee…
Without further singing or ado... let’s get on with it, shall we? There has been tons of stuff going on.
Now, for those of you who can remember that far back, about a week and a half ago was Thanksgiving. Many people have asked me the obligatory question “How was your Thanksgiving?”. Generally speaking I always answer this question the same with some mock enthusiasm. “Good”… but that was not the case this year. My Thanksgiving was phenomenal, it was one of the books baby! I left work Wednesday afternoon, and things were looking good… and they were only gonna get better. I actually shut my laptop down and a paused as I looked at it, and in my head I told myself “Wow, not going to power you up until Monday”. I was looking at four days of complete and total freedom! The thought was serene, it was actually calming, and most importantly it brought a Cheshire cat grin to my face that didn’t leave for four days. I almost felt like I was cheating… like I was beating the system. It was like I was getting four days off and no one else was, like I had won the lottery and instead of millions of dollars… I got four days off! I bolted out of work, like I was escaping from a mental institution, which to be quite honest that is what my office resembles more often than not, and I had already packed my bags! I had everything I need to camp out at my sister’s house for the next few days. My sister Mary Pat had flown in for the holiday and Mary Pat is a TON of fun… she is a walking Mardi Gras and everyone loves to be around her, so I knew my holiday was going to be great! She was staying at my sister’s as well, so let the party begin!
I am racing over to Grapevine Mills mall to get to the movie theater to go see “Enchanted”. I am so excited to see this movie, I had been dying to see it since I first saw the trailer for it. It is about fairytale animated princess who gets propelled off the animation drawing board and right smack dab into New York City!!! I love the whole fairytale princess thing, I love New York City, and I am a huge sap when it comes to movies where it simply HAS to end with the boy getting the girl and “they lived happily ever after” endings! So, I simply knew this was the movie for me. Luckily for me, I have three nieces so that gives me a great excuse for going to see these types of movies… you go up to the ticket box office and ask for “1 adult ticket please” and that does generate some looks, I cant even imagine what those looks would be if I was a guy!! But you go up to the box office and say, “1 adult, 3 kids”… you can even through in a typical “Can’t believe I have to see THIS movie”, and there are no looks, other than to those of complete understanding. So, I go and grab tickets for my two sisters, my mother and my three nieces… I am ready for the show! I am waiting patiently until they get there, and then my nieces bank the corner. They see me and they go from fast walking into an all out sprint… the eleven year old is in the lead!!! It is like they are racing for the roses and I am the roses!!! Woohoo! You will never feel more loved and adored and idolized as you do when three little girls are racing toward you with utter exhilaration painted across their smiles and them screaming “Martha!” at the top of their lungs. I think it would be great if I could get a recording of them all screaming my name that way, I could keep it in my cube at work and when I solve and issue or deploy new code, I could hit play… and hear it… “Martha!” We all greet each other and hit the concession stand for our movie-going fare. The typical popcorn and sodas… at the rock bottom price of $58. You could go to Taco Bell and feed a hungry family of ten, and I mean hungry, for that kind of money. Crazy. We get into the theater and there is NO one there! Yahtzee!!! I love going to the movies when no one is in the theater with you… it is like your own private screening, I feel so Howard Hughes. The movie was good, not great, but good and sometimes that is good enough.
We leave the theater and head into the mall to shop for just a little bit, and my niece Rebecca looks at me and says “I wish you didn’t have to leave.” I was a little shocked and then quickly realized this kid had no idea I was staying the weekend! I said, “yeah, I know.” And began snickering to myself. Her lamenting persisted, and I kept poking her about it until finally I told her that I was stay, not only that but I was going to be sleeping in her room!! She was thrilled, yet again… I felt like a star! She was so excited that not only was Aunt Martha not going home, but by God she was gonna be staying in her room! My other two nieces quickly flew into action, “why cant you sleep in my room?” was said in unison by the other two kids. You have to understand that Rebecca is the oldest, and the only one that is a good sleeper. The other two are not only not good sleepers, but will keep you awake the entire night… trust me I know, this has happened to me… More. Than. Once. The kids were thrilled that I was staying and I have to admit so was I.
The next day was Thanksgiving, and I had a lot to be thankful for… being off of work for four days topped the list this year, after that it 300-way tie for second… with the normal stuff thrown in, my house, my car that still amazes me, my job that I have four days away from, my friends, my vacation coming up in March, my family, my health, my big toe that is back to normal… you know, “stuff”. The next day was spent playing every game you can imagine. We played with dolls, we did “Dance Dance Revolution” on X-box, we did “Kareoke” on the X-box, we watched “National Treasure”, we ate, we snacked, we had more popcorn, and we finally fell into bed for a long winter’s nap around 9:30pm, something I haven’t probably done in a long time but man, I needed the rest! It was great. I slept until 8am the next morning, so did Rebecca, God love that kid, she can sleep! If you ever spend the night at my sister’s, word to the wise, sleep in Rebecca’s room. She will crowd you a little bit, because she really wants to lay next-to/on-top-of you, but other than that, she doesn’t stir, she doesn’t snore, she doesn’t drool, she doesn’t seem to ever have nightmares, she doesn’t wet the bed, and she will sleep until you wake her up!
The next day was a whirlwind… it whipped by so fast I can hardly remember it! I went down to College Station, yes my beloved Aggieland to see us play the University of Texas. I have to admit I had already steeled myself to accept a loss. I knew that we had won last year, and I knew that Fran was still coaching, so I knew the odds of us winning were not good. I got there and it was cold, that was going to add insult to injury. But the Aggies went ahead early in the first quarter… we were passing the ball!!! I almost didn’t recognize the strange gyration that was happening with our quarterbacks arm… I thought maybe his arm was broken or he was signaling to the sideline… but after thinking about it for a few minutes and conferring with those around me and even noticing that they moved the chains, we all decided it was a forward pass!!! It was like something from another planet, we were in awe of this. Then later… a faked field goal!!! We were actually playing in this game, our players were running all over the field and not just up the middle. Our quarterback was passing, instead of just running up the middle, our coaches were coaching instead of just running up the middle. It was a football symphony… I called it “Aggies in 1st Down Major” by “coaches other than Fran”. It was awesome… we got the lead and never let it go. We had over 500 yards in total offense, we looked lean and mean, and I was so happy it didn’t matter how cold I was! I felt like Christmas had come early, Santa had arrived in Aggieland and left a big fat win underneath the century tree for all to enjoy, but then later that night after leaving the game… it got better, we had all gotten our win and had played with it, we were all basking in our newest and latest toy, and then apparently the newscasters looked under the century tree and saw a new gift that Santa had left. It was coach Fran’s resignation letter, complete with speech and the keys to locker room! Could it get any better? Is there anything else that Santa could have left? I am wondering if he left a National Championship title under the tree, complete with a Waterford crystal football… but if he had I am sure someone would have found that by now!
I got back home Saturday and raced through the day, it all ended at my mother’s house with a holiday celebration for my sister Kathy being in town. There were leftovers galore and there was laughter in spades, the house was bursting at the seams and we were all there to fill ‘er up. It was great.
(A poetic interlude)
The weekend was a blast, as you can plainly see… don’t you wish you were an Aggie like me?
I went back to Toronto again last week. I am sure that Toronto has a city nickname, you know… like Dallas is “Big D” (although so is “divorce”… hmm, is that coincidence?) and New York is “The Big Apple” and Chicago is “The windy City” or “Chi-Town”… if I was gonna nickname Toronto, it would be “the land of parallel snow”. I am gonna wrap up this “update…” but hear me out. The snow was actually snowing parallel to the ground. That is how hard the wind was blowing. There wasn’t snow on the top of the cars, it was on the side of the cars. One of my co-workers went out to get the car one morning, he scraped the ice off the windshield, got in the car and then had to scrape the ice off the INSIDE of the windshield!!!! It was like being in an igloo! I have been around 33 years, and never once have I scraped ice off the inside of a windshield! These Canadians are made of some pretty strong stuff, they really endure a lot of “weather”. I now understand why they drink so heavily, I would too. Think about it, you cant really go outside and do anything… your lawn maintenance and outside yard work are only an issue for 2 months out of the entire year. You are constantly cooped up in your home with the people in your family! The divorce rate isn’t as high as it is in the US, but the murder rate… it is pretty up there!
That does it for me, hope you all had a wonderful turkey day!!!!
Peace, love, and “is there anything else under the century tree?”,
Martha
Bon Jour… Good day… Buenos dias… and Hello-oh! I’m sure…. You want… to hear my update, let’s go-oh! Dee-ta-ta-leet-da-da-leet-dee-dee… Dee-ta-leet-dee-dee…
Without further singing or ado... let’s get on with it, shall we? There has been tons of stuff going on.
Now, for those of you who can remember that far back, about a week and a half ago was Thanksgiving. Many people have asked me the obligatory question “How was your Thanksgiving?”. Generally speaking I always answer this question the same with some mock enthusiasm. “Good”… but that was not the case this year. My Thanksgiving was phenomenal, it was one of the books baby! I left work Wednesday afternoon, and things were looking good… and they were only gonna get better. I actually shut my laptop down and a paused as I looked at it, and in my head I told myself “Wow, not going to power you up until Monday”. I was looking at four days of complete and total freedom! The thought was serene, it was actually calming, and most importantly it brought a Cheshire cat grin to my face that didn’t leave for four days. I almost felt like I was cheating… like I was beating the system. It was like I was getting four days off and no one else was, like I had won the lottery and instead of millions of dollars… I got four days off! I bolted out of work, like I was escaping from a mental institution, which to be quite honest that is what my office resembles more often than not, and I had already packed my bags! I had everything I need to camp out at my sister’s house for the next few days. My sister Mary Pat had flown in for the holiday and Mary Pat is a TON of fun… she is a walking Mardi Gras and everyone loves to be around her, so I knew my holiday was going to be great! She was staying at my sister’s as well, so let the party begin!
I am racing over to Grapevine Mills mall to get to the movie theater to go see “Enchanted”. I am so excited to see this movie, I had been dying to see it since I first saw the trailer for it. It is about fairytale animated princess who gets propelled off the animation drawing board and right smack dab into New York City!!! I love the whole fairytale princess thing, I love New York City, and I am a huge sap when it comes to movies where it simply HAS to end with the boy getting the girl and “they lived happily ever after” endings! So, I simply knew this was the movie for me. Luckily for me, I have three nieces so that gives me a great excuse for going to see these types of movies… you go up to the ticket box office and ask for “1 adult ticket please” and that does generate some looks, I cant even imagine what those looks would be if I was a guy!! But you go up to the box office and say, “1 adult, 3 kids”… you can even through in a typical “Can’t believe I have to see THIS movie”, and there are no looks, other than to those of complete understanding. So, I go and grab tickets for my two sisters, my mother and my three nieces… I am ready for the show! I am waiting patiently until they get there, and then my nieces bank the corner. They see me and they go from fast walking into an all out sprint… the eleven year old is in the lead!!! It is like they are racing for the roses and I am the roses!!! Woohoo! You will never feel more loved and adored and idolized as you do when three little girls are racing toward you with utter exhilaration painted across their smiles and them screaming “Martha!” at the top of their lungs. I think it would be great if I could get a recording of them all screaming my name that way, I could keep it in my cube at work and when I solve and issue or deploy new code, I could hit play… and hear it… “Martha!” We all greet each other and hit the concession stand for our movie-going fare. The typical popcorn and sodas… at the rock bottom price of $58. You could go to Taco Bell and feed a hungry family of ten, and I mean hungry, for that kind of money. Crazy. We get into the theater and there is NO one there! Yahtzee!!! I love going to the movies when no one is in the theater with you… it is like your own private screening, I feel so Howard Hughes. The movie was good, not great, but good and sometimes that is good enough.
We leave the theater and head into the mall to shop for just a little bit, and my niece Rebecca looks at me and says “I wish you didn’t have to leave.” I was a little shocked and then quickly realized this kid had no idea I was staying the weekend! I said, “yeah, I know.” And began snickering to myself. Her lamenting persisted, and I kept poking her about it until finally I told her that I was stay, not only that but I was going to be sleeping in her room!! She was thrilled, yet again… I felt like a star! She was so excited that not only was Aunt Martha not going home, but by God she was gonna be staying in her room! My other two nieces quickly flew into action, “why cant you sleep in my room?” was said in unison by the other two kids. You have to understand that Rebecca is the oldest, and the only one that is a good sleeper. The other two are not only not good sleepers, but will keep you awake the entire night… trust me I know, this has happened to me… More. Than. Once. The kids were thrilled that I was staying and I have to admit so was I.
The next day was Thanksgiving, and I had a lot to be thankful for… being off of work for four days topped the list this year, after that it 300-way tie for second… with the normal stuff thrown in, my house, my car that still amazes me, my job that I have four days away from, my friends, my vacation coming up in March, my family, my health, my big toe that is back to normal… you know, “stuff”. The next day was spent playing every game you can imagine. We played with dolls, we did “Dance Dance Revolution” on X-box, we did “Kareoke” on the X-box, we watched “National Treasure”, we ate, we snacked, we had more popcorn, and we finally fell into bed for a long winter’s nap around 9:30pm, something I haven’t probably done in a long time but man, I needed the rest! It was great. I slept until 8am the next morning, so did Rebecca, God love that kid, she can sleep! If you ever spend the night at my sister’s, word to the wise, sleep in Rebecca’s room. She will crowd you a little bit, because she really wants to lay next-to/on-top-of you, but other than that, she doesn’t stir, she doesn’t snore, she doesn’t drool, she doesn’t seem to ever have nightmares, she doesn’t wet the bed, and she will sleep until you wake her up!
The next day was a whirlwind… it whipped by so fast I can hardly remember it! I went down to College Station, yes my beloved Aggieland to see us play the University of Texas. I have to admit I had already steeled myself to accept a loss. I knew that we had won last year, and I knew that Fran was still coaching, so I knew the odds of us winning were not good. I got there and it was cold, that was going to add insult to injury. But the Aggies went ahead early in the first quarter… we were passing the ball!!! I almost didn’t recognize the strange gyration that was happening with our quarterbacks arm… I thought maybe his arm was broken or he was signaling to the sideline… but after thinking about it for a few minutes and conferring with those around me and even noticing that they moved the chains, we all decided it was a forward pass!!! It was like something from another planet, we were in awe of this. Then later… a faked field goal!!! We were actually playing in this game, our players were running all over the field and not just up the middle. Our quarterback was passing, instead of just running up the middle, our coaches were coaching instead of just running up the middle. It was a football symphony… I called it “Aggies in 1st Down Major” by “coaches other than Fran”. It was awesome… we got the lead and never let it go. We had over 500 yards in total offense, we looked lean and mean, and I was so happy it didn’t matter how cold I was! I felt like Christmas had come early, Santa had arrived in Aggieland and left a big fat win underneath the century tree for all to enjoy, but then later that night after leaving the game… it got better, we had all gotten our win and had played with it, we were all basking in our newest and latest toy, and then apparently the newscasters looked under the century tree and saw a new gift that Santa had left. It was coach Fran’s resignation letter, complete with speech and the keys to locker room! Could it get any better? Is there anything else that Santa could have left? I am wondering if he left a National Championship title under the tree, complete with a Waterford crystal football… but if he had I am sure someone would have found that by now!
I got back home Saturday and raced through the day, it all ended at my mother’s house with a holiday celebration for my sister Kathy being in town. There were leftovers galore and there was laughter in spades, the house was bursting at the seams and we were all there to fill ‘er up. It was great.
(A poetic interlude)
The weekend was a blast, as you can plainly see… don’t you wish you were an Aggie like me?
I went back to Toronto again last week. I am sure that Toronto has a city nickname, you know… like Dallas is “Big D” (although so is “divorce”… hmm, is that coincidence?) and New York is “The Big Apple” and Chicago is “The windy City” or “Chi-Town”… if I was gonna nickname Toronto, it would be “the land of parallel snow”. I am gonna wrap up this “update…” but hear me out. The snow was actually snowing parallel to the ground. That is how hard the wind was blowing. There wasn’t snow on the top of the cars, it was on the side of the cars. One of my co-workers went out to get the car one morning, he scraped the ice off the windshield, got in the car and then had to scrape the ice off the INSIDE of the windshield!!!! It was like being in an igloo! I have been around 33 years, and never once have I scraped ice off the inside of a windshield! These Canadians are made of some pretty strong stuff, they really endure a lot of “weather”. I now understand why they drink so heavily, I would too. Think about it, you cant really go outside and do anything… your lawn maintenance and outside yard work are only an issue for 2 months out of the entire year. You are constantly cooped up in your home with the people in your family! The divorce rate isn’t as high as it is in the US, but the murder rate… it is pretty up there!
That does it for me, hope you all had a wonderful turkey day!!!!
Peace, love, and “is there anything else under the century tree?”,
Martha
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