Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I just finished reading this book...see title above.
I love, love, loved it.
The little boy is sweet and charming.
The old man is not sweet and not-so-charming.
I bought it because the title reminded me of Braden.
I highly recommend it.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Hate mongers

I am a tad bit annoyed. Actually a little more than that...
Braden has been in scouts for several years now, and he's trying to become an Eagle Scout. The "leaders" of his troup are tried and true conservative republicans. To each his own, right? But, it seems that every time any of them gets any kind of political/military/religious emails they insist on forwarding them to everyone on their mailing lists.
I find most of these emails to be the kind that are hate-inspiring scare tactics. They offend me. And, they're are usually from the head of the scout troup, but they can be from other members too. I'm never sure what the emails are...sometimes they send legitimate emails about special meeting or trips, so I open all of them. Then I'm stuck reading nonsense. Well, stuck reading it until I realize what it is and hit delete.
I think it's completely unprofessional for scout leaders to send emails about their personal views to me. In the past, I replied to them saying to please remove me from their mailing list, and to only include me in scout related emails. But, they still come.
Last night I got an email that's first line was:
"I didn’t vote for him either…but it looks like we’re stuck with this buffoon…..even for HIM, this is LOW!"
This wasn't the first line of the original email, but the line that the forwarder added to top. Again, I hit reply all, and asked to please refrain from sending me these types of emails. (so far I got one reply, saying that I shouldn't have "reply all"-ed it, but addressed the sender personally. I replied to her that I would have, but that person isn't the only one who sends these emails.).
I just don't understand people. I would never forward any type of political/religious/military emails to anyone unless I was certain they'd be interested in reading it.
What do you think? Am I right to be angry?

Friday, August 14, 2009

boring, boring and more boring

I have been very remiss in blogging, I apologize. It's just that I don't have much to write about. My life isn't interesting to me, I'm sure it's not to you either.

I go back to work-work on Tuesday. Summer's over.....long sigh. And, our week of trainings seems like a month. Long and drawn out. Yuck!

Here's a cute story (well, I think it's cute), about Tristan (the autistic/MR boy I work with). Itmight be a little hard to relate, by typing, but I'll give it a shot.My supervisor and I have been giving him his yearly testing that's used to do his treatment plan. One of the things he had to do was say his first and last names. I've been working on this with him for months, so I thought he'd do well with it. He climbed on my lap,where he prefers to sit, and I said, "okay, buddy, what's your name?" "Tristan," he answered. "Good," I said, "Tristan what?" He just looked at me. I know he knows his last name, but he wouldn't say it. I kept saying "Tristan....." (Sort of like they do on password, when they want you to finish a phrase), finally he said "Guage"....which is his middle name. I chuckled a bit, since I'd never bothered to use his middle name. Then I said, "Tristan Guage......." and he said,"TRISTAN GUAGE KNOCK IT OFF!" Hahahaha, that must be what his mom says to him when he's up to no good. After I stopped laughing, I finally said, "Tristan Guage knock it off......" and he said, "Smith." So, he got full credit for that one!

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

"we are family"

I don't have a whole lot to report. My summer has been mostly uneventful...which is a good thing.

August looks to be a little busier. I'm having a semi-family reunion this Sunday...I hope the weather is nice so the kids can swim. My cousin is a great baker, and I'm looking forward to see what she'll bring.

Keith has been working on a big fund raiser for JJ's football team. They're having a concert in a couple of weeks with a Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen cover band. It should be a fun night out. In between I'm filling in for someone in a bunco game, and having my bookgroup friends over for a ladies-only pool party.

I go back to work on the 18th... so my summer is practically over!

I had Brighton last weekend. He's such a cutie and he's very bright. We took him to a local carnival where his pop-pop (Keith) insisted on spoiling him with a pony ride. Brighton was less than thrilled with it. Here's a picture of the little guy (chewing on a page from his favorite book):