Premonition

Saturday night/early morning I have a dream, a nightmare really.

I am driving down the road (around 635 and Midway area) when a car on my left is slammed by a car careening from my right. I, like all the other cars around me, slam on my brakes. "Are they okay" "Oh my god!" - thoughts pummel my mind.

A glance to the rear view determines my fate - BAM! My car is crumpled by a large truck from behind. Single driver.

Darkness.

I wake in the hospital. Sunil at my side.

"They did a test to determine the driver of the truck."

I weakly look at Sunil for the answer.

"It was T.O."

A sigh releases from my lips.

"I promise, I'll take him off of your Fantasy Football League. I can't stand him for what he did."

Weakly, I nod.

Dream ends....

Sunday -

"Hey, Bets. I think your team is gonna lose this week. T.O really sucked this week and screwed you over."

No kidding.

A sense of community - through food.

Mom and I have been trying to figure out just the right weekend for her and Dad to come visit (it's been a while). Part of the conversation eventually pulled itself towards the ever-burning question of what to do in the evenings. Should we (Mom and Dad) come up on Friday or Saturday? If it's Friday, then what will Dad do during the day? Golf. With whom? Hmmm....

Ok. Let's come Saturday. Afternoon.

Perfect.

Ah, but where to eat? Have drinks? What type of food? Oh, the questions never end.

The funny thing is, when Mom comes to visit on her own, there is rarely a question. Red Wine. Pasta. With Italian sausage-flavored turkey meat. And some garlic bread. The biggest question usually looming for us is - which movie to watch and when to start cooking. Dad would (and sometimes does) disapprove of our homebody-ness. But we like it. It opens us up for all kinds of cooking conversation.

And isn't that interesting...the act of cooking opens us up to this ability to discuss things we normally might not. I don't think it's too far from fishing or driving. When our hands are busy, our minds are able to divulge. It is the time to bring us back into our fold.

It reminds me of my family. Both the women and the men. Thanksgiving - the aunts - cooking in the kitchen. Christmas - the aunts - cooking in the kitchen. (Oh, my mom is included in "the aunts") Summer - the men - grilling on the patio. Early Autumn - grilling again.

What is it about family and food? Why do we so strongly tie ourselves together?

I ask these questions, knowing the answer. Communal. We allow ourselves the opportunity to give to each other in a nourishing way. We feed each through conversation, recipes shared across generations and families. We feed each others' health. We grow together - in more than one way, I suppose.

So I ask - beyond the obvious socialization answer - why do we always insist upon "taking you out to eat"? What happened to cooking a meal for each other and sharing in a communal meal? Who decided it was better to take someone out rather than take the time to prepare a meal together?

Worthy?

Dressed nicely, they moved around the room "schmoozing". They have a confidence, knowing their paychecks are of a high value. Wine glasses intermingled with vodka cocktails and stout whiskey. Whitened, heightened teeth grimaced smiles.

"Yes. I teach high school English." The handwritten badge gave it away amidst perfectly formed, typed badges. Blaring names and companies and organizations. BOLD, NEAT TYPE. So organized. Precise.

Who knew it would be a death sentence to any hope of valuable conversation, or value.

Backs turn, turn, turn. Black, brown and blue suits. A great seam threads straight down. A vertical plunge. An end?

A monotony of graying falsely blonde or black or brown. "Oh, yes. So gooooood to see you again."

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/32280950/ns/today-today_fashion_and_beauty/


Now, why do I find this blog-worthy? Because it makes me happy to think that ... finally... we are considering classy as worthy of note. Please...let this catch on.

August....ugh.

Maybe it's the beginning of the school year. Maybe it's the beginning of the work year (for the teachers). Maybe it's the june bugs taking over every swimming pool. But for some reason, I've always despised August.

I did not come to this decision lightly. Every year, as the end of July looms near, I feel the August dread climbing over me like the stale, warm heat of 5 p.m. Suffocating. It makes me long for a quick flash forward to October or November. Cool, crisp air. Breathable.

Rains have descended. Perhaps this August will be different. Somehow altered by the lugubrious sky.

Why I Love Knitting Needles - Big Ones

Last night I am snuggled comfortably in bed, reading some Kingsolver when my cell phone rings. "Maybe it is Sunil" I think to myself (since he has been out of town).

"No Name" my cell phone reads back at me in black text on the blue-lit screen.

It was not going to use any minutes answering a call so late, so I figured, what the heck. Who knows who it could be. And I answer.

"Mumble, mumble, mumble"

"Hello?"

More mumbling.

"Who is this?"

More mumbling.

I hang up.

Then I hear a noise somewhere in the apartment. I am getting a little creeped out.

The thought crosses my mind - "Did I lock the door when I last took the dogs for a walk?" Uh-oh. Now the tiny bit of paranoia begins to seep in.

Quietly, I crawl out of bed, slink into the kitchen, and pull the biggest, sharpest knife I can find out of the drawer. I proceed to open every single closet, pantry, cabinet door in the place, just knowing that someone or something will come crashing down on me. But I have the knife.

My thorough search turns up absolutely nothing. It only reminds me of two things: Sleeping with the light on at age 26 is not a horrible thing and a large knitting needle within arms reach on the nightstand is a wonderful thing.

Communication....bologne!

It appears Betsy and I will soon be able to speak the same language and open our channels of communication with each other. Since 2008, Betsy says something but I just somehow guess what she's saying.....yes, I'm incredibly lucky like that. And vice-versa...I say something and Betsy has to guess what I'm saying.

I'm happy to tell the world that soon, Betsy and I will open up channels of communication. She and I will speak the same language...and better yet...we'll be doing what everyone calls "communicating" with each other!! :-D.

Yes, it's a breakthrough. I love it.

Bitch Nearly Gets Us Lost...

This week, I have to head to Kansas City for work...instead of flying, Betsy and I decide to take on the open road. As soon as I get in the car and get going, Bitch starts complaining. Evidently I should have "taken a U-turn" from the get-go. Whatever. So about 150 miles into the open country roads, Bitch starts whining about a stop the SUV had to make at the truck stop to get some fuel. It shouldn't be like this...not just when turning off the road to get some fuel. At this point, I'm frustrated and tell Bitch to shut up. She didn't listen, but do any of them listen? So I give in, knowing that making my point is a lost cause.

I was about to put Bitch out of her misery (and mine)....but I decide to give her another chance. So I tell her I need to get to Wal-Mart because I forgot some clothes back in Dallas........and what does Bitch do? She takes us to a Sam's Club. No! I don't have a Sam's Club membership...and no Wal-Mart in-sight. Now I was really desperate....I ask Bitch to get on the ball and help out.....and what do you know, Bitch gets us there. So all-in-all, Betsy and I agree we need a different Bitch of a navigation system after all.

Wal-Mart on a Saturday night

Sunil and I finished Top Golf with Glad and Steven. Then the question arises - what to do now? So, we decide to forgo hitting up a bar and be responsible and get ready for our road trip to KS and AS. Where do we go to prepare? Wal-Mart. As we walk through the parking lot, Nissans and Toyotas abound. Then we walk in. It takes about 10 seconds before I say "Wow, I think every Indian in Las Colinas must be here." Sunil's response - "I think every Asian is. Hey! There's Ashish. " So we go over to talk to Ashish and his wife...Yes, every Indian in town must have been there.

Lost

Last night (and a few nights prior as well), I've been watching seasons 4 & 5 of Lost. Now, I've never seen any other seasons or episodes even. But this show is awesome! It is allowing me to do one of my favorite things - analyze (or over analyze) symbols and metaphors, etc. I busted out the orange post-its and a pen and took down lots of little notes to myself as I watched. I may have (probably) annoyed Sunil endlessly with my out-loud analysis. But it's so fun to try and figure these things out (in a book or a movie or a TV show) as you progress through it. :)

LDAP search filters

LDAP search filters can be a pain. I often need the LDAP search filter strings when configuring Lotus Connections or WebSphere App Server. To keep this short...here are the generic search filters for both Domino and Active Directory..

Active Directory

• LDAP user search base: DC=northamerica,DC=YourCompany,DC=net
• LDAP user search filter: (&(uid=*)(objectclass=inetOrgPerson))
  

Domino

• LDAP user search base: o=YourDominoServersOrgName
• LDAP user search filter: (&(uid=*)(objectclass=inetOrgPerson))
  

Happy days!

A simple pleasure

3:00 am Saturday, June 13, and we found ourselves awake and partying with Gladman’s place…yet again.   In an effort to dig into eHarmony a bit, we ran across a question on life being about simple pleasures.  I’m convinced that nothing is simple, even when it comes to the finer things in life.  Even simple things require investment of some type or another…there’s no disputing that.

So of course, Glad and Bets give me the schpeel of what a simple pleasure is…e.g. just relaxing by the pool, or doing this and that…I was convinced of what they were talking about…yeah, for a whole of 5 minutes!

4:20 pm Sunday, June 14…it all made sense.  Sitting with Bets and holding each other, being as happy as can be for a good 30 minutes, and doing absolutely nothing…a simple pleasure is discovered.

A Thursday Evening...

Tonight I went to Doc's Housewarming party. There were about 10 or so teachers from Ranchview there enjoying good drinks and fajitas.

Unfortunately, Sunil was stuck in KC for the night due to an early morning meeting, so he did not get to come to this teacher gathering with me.

We mostly all were heading out by 10:30-11:00. Too many teachers with other jobs. Sigh.

But it was nice to get to hang out with everyone completely outside of a work-related function. I'd like to have some of them over some time for a little get-together. Mix 'em up with the IT folk. :)