Word of The Day

hyperventablating

"hy-per-ven-tab-lat-ing"

Definition of HYPERVENTABLATING
: to lose one's mind because of stress

Examples of HYPERVENTABLATING
I sent my colleague an email with some errors she had made and she Skyped me that she was "hyperventablating".

First Known Use of HYPERVENTABLATING
August 31, 2011 @ 3:23 p.m. EST

Related to HYPERVENTABLATING
Synonyms: I'm not going to make it, rut-roh, I should really use spell-check

Myrtle

A year ago this week, we planted a crape myrtle in our backyard. Neither one of us are tree or plant people, so adding a new addition to our landscape was a big deal for us. I worried about her during the Winter and it was a tough one, with lots of snow and ice. When Spring came it didn't look like Myrtle had survived; we pulled her receipt as she was guaranteed for a year's time.

However, slowly but surely, her leaves came out followed by tiny, little buds. We would see mature crape myrtles all over, in full bloom, and we kept wondering when our Myrtle would show her true colors. Perhaps what we suspected in the Spring was true, the Pennsylvania winter was just too much for her.

But last week, right before Hurricane Irene came a-callin', my husband made his daily Myrtle Check only to report she had started to bloom. I hurriedly joined him outside to see for myself. It was true. Myrtle HAD made it and she is beautiful.

A mere 48 hours after she "came out", Irene punished her once again. Why couldn't Myrtle get a break? Strong winds, rain coming down so hard it came sideways. Nature again Nature. Myrtle against Irene.

Myrtle won.

Good Night, Irene

An Earthquake And Hurricane In One Week

WHEN PIGS FLY

It's Never Good When Legal Documents Come To Life

Normally I am reading contracts at my desk with the verbiage of "Force Majeure" (defined as a superior or overpowering force; an unexpected or uncontrollable event or simply, an act of God).

Today, I was protecting my desk from that very thing.

Loyal To The End

Click HERE to read how Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson's Labrador retriever, Hawkeye, was loyal to the end, as he refused to leave his master's side during an emotional funeral.

Candidate Mentioned That He Had Survived A Bite From A Deadly Aquatic Animal

Well, that caught my attention this morning and now it's caught yours!

CareerBuilder has uncovered the 15 Strangest Resume Mistakes. Click HERE for that article.

It's ridiculously awesome!

"Outta Here" But Never Forgotten

Today my husband and I visited beloved Philadephia Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas' grave who passed away in 2009. It was a beautiful summer day and the setting for Harry's grave could not be more perfect, if indeed there is ever a perfect spot for such a thing.

Harry's tombstone is a large microphone and on either side of it are two pair of seats from Veterans Stadium where you can sit and pay your respects to The Voice of the Phillies.

Beneath the microphone, etched in the stone, is a quote by A. Bartlett Giamatti:
"Baseball is about going home and how hard it is to get there and how driven is our need. It tells us how good home is. Its wisdom says you can go home again but that you cannot stay. The journey must always start once more, the bat an oar over the shoulder, until there is an end to all the journeying."

The Voice of the Phillies, no doubt now The Voice of the Angels.

Quell Ching Rumors

Contrary to what you may have heard, the new blog name is NONE of the following:

Pat Hetic . com

M.T. Headed . com

Ken Hardly Read . com

or

Drew P. Drorrs . com

Although KenHardlyRead.com was tempting!

A Dry, Safe Place

On my way to pick up my Mom this morning, it started to pour rain. I stopped at the library to return some books before picking Mom up, and I noticed an older woman walking to the next door grocery store, with no umbrella and no protection from the downpour.

I hurried to get the books in the drop box as the library wasn't open yet, jumped back in my car and headed towards the woman. I pulled up next to her so that my empty passenger seat was nearest to her, turned off my radio, lowered the front passenger window and said, "Ma'am, would you like a ride to the grocery store?".

She stopped and I saw the hesitation in her eyes as she quickly checked me out. And for wheatever reason she made a decision and said "Yes" and got in. I immediately made small talk about picking up my Mom, hoping she'd see I was a woman up early on a Sunday morning to spend time with her Mom, completely wishing her no harm.

It took less than a moment to get to the front of the store, but in that time the rain came down even harder; my windshield wipers on their highest speed weren't improving visibility. I dropped her off, she thanked me, and I was on my way.

I am so happy that I didn't talk myself out of offering the ride to her as the same hesitation I saw in her eyes I had played out in my head as I drove to meet her and make the offer. I am so happy that she said yes. And I am so happy that for a moment in 2011, when the world is hardly a safe place, my dry car was.

I Wish These Pages Didn't Turn So Noisily

The problem with having a husband who helps out around the house is that it's impossible to not feel guilty about reading the book I can't put down while he cleans the bathroom. And so I don't.

Put it down that is.

Gone Global

In my job, I manage meetings not only in the United States but all over the world. I’ve begun working on two new meetings with my Event Coordinator, who is from our Russian office.

What you must understand is that I am a simple girl with a huge heaping of tomboy lumped in for good measure who was born and raised in a town with a current population of 4,800 people. I now live 5 miles from my parents’ house and married a boy who went to the same high school as me (although we didn’t meet until 7 years after I graduated). I love to travel and I know this is a big ole world so please don’t judge me, but I am more than happy to travel around this “land that I love” and go no further than “sea to shining sea”. But it’s part of the job and I knew it going in.

As I sit at my desk and type up my notes from the call I had this morning with my Russian colleague, I realize that Sister Rain’s world just got a whole lot bigger. The meetings we are working on will take place in Barcelona and Rome. Neither location is 5 miles from my parents’ home.

I guess the good news is that in my mid-40s I am still challenging myself to do things that are out of my comfort zone. I’m still putting on my Big Girl Panties on a daily basis. I wonder if Halle Berry, who is a year younger than I am, ever has to put on her Big Girl Panties? My guess is no.

His Loss Is My Loss

My husband, who is in his 40s, still plays baseball. His team competed tonight in its first playoff game of the season, a one-loss elimination round. It was the first game I attended this year and I was blamed (kiddingly of course) (I think) for being a jinx by other members of the team I've known for years. Yes, they lost.

But I lost too. My one night of the week alone, gone with the swing-and-a-miss of the bat.

Don't judge me unless your relationship has gone the extra innings mine has. Sometimes, even us everyday players need some time, alone, in our dugouts.

Sister Rain . . .

. . . loves a rainy Sunday.

Exciting News

Big news dear Readers! The name of this blog is going to be changing in the coming weeks. I'll give you plenty of notice and I'm pretty sure the old address will work, at least for awhile. I'm not quite ready to reveal the new name but I am very excited to enter this new phase of my blog's life.

Hope you are enjoying your Saturday!

DO Pay Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain

I attended a memorial service today for a former colleague and friend who passed away of brain cancer at the age of 67. Many of my colleagues from "back in the day" were there and although it was wonderful to see them all, the reason we were all gathered was evident by the table and flowers at the front of the room. One of us was gone.

I have so many thoughts and questions since leaving the service and the whole thing is, quite frankly, so surreal. But something that was profound was the amount of people there to pay their respects. You take away the career and the hobbies and the responsibilities and all the things we stress about every day, every hour, and what is left is the people you've touched.

As the Wizard said to the Tin Man, "A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." (Yes, in addition to the Brady Bunch (click HERE) I have a strong association with "The Wizard of Oz".)

What my favorite movie and classic TV show confirms is that your family and your friends, no matter how much of a rag-tag team they may be, stay together through everything, even death. My husband and I are no Mike and Carol but we've got each other and I've also got my own personal Tin Wo-Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion with me through this Yellow Brick Road of life.

Keep the Ruby Slippers, I've got everything I need. I hope that you do too.

What Do You Mean You Put Money In It And Make A Telephone Call? How Do You Drive Around With It?

It used to be when you came home from a vacation, you would unpack, do laundry, maybe go grocery shopping, pick up the mail you had stopped delivery on while you were not home.

Nowadays, if you have the Geek Factor in your DNA, there are a host of other things you have to do. Catch up on emails, check your favorite websites since the internet in your hotel was so slow it was as if it were 2005. Imagine! I was behind on reading Tweets and watching Tweeted videos and various other social networking chores.

The argument can be made that these machines that seem to make things easier for us simply add things to our daily "To Do" list. But I lived in a world where we had no cell phones or computers or any of the other things we keep clipped to our bodies these days. And I wouldn't go back for all the leftover pay phone change in the world.

Plucking On The Beach

I am at the beach on vacation for a few days. I was sitting in my beach chair today, enjoying the cool ocean on my feet and legs and watching the little ones experience the ocean for the first time. Then I experienced something for the first time myself!

A young woman wearing a bikini, in her early 20's, sitting on a towel by herself, had a pair of tweezers and was plucking hairs from her inner thigh. She did it a few times to her left thigh, then moved on to her right. I had my sunglasses on but if I didn't my bulging-out-of-my-head eyes would be a perfect compliment to my gaping mouth. Just when my mind caught up to my eyes, she then plucked some from her stomach!

I am all for good grooming and personal hygiene but, and call me old-fashioned, let's limit it while on the beach to applying sunscreen and combing your hair. I guess it could be worse. Nail clippers? Razors? I suppose I should not give anybody any ideas . . .

The Week In Review

Monday is the day of ick
Tuesday you are still feeling sick
Wednesday you pass over the hump
Thursday it’s back to being a grump
Friday is the finish line
Saturday, if I’m lucky, the day is all mine
Sunday you see Monday around the bend
Then it begins all over again.

There But For The Grace Of God

I can't stop watching it or thinking about it or tearing up when I see it.

I don't know what you believe, but this has to make you believe in something.

An Unwelcome Visitor

If Monday was in my front yard, I'd be in my backyard.

And vice versa.

Actually I'd be in bed.