Okay, so not like some super-star or anything, but he is in an article that is currently on the front page of cnn.com! I swear I never thought anything so cool would come of his GI Joe obsession, but I must give him credit - his cubicle was pretty cool. Check out the article here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/07/18/wacky.workspace/index.html
Now we are working on creating a room in our house for all his GI Joes. I was really bugged by them when we first got married - I thought it was childish, but then I realized that lots of guys get fanatical about something. My uncle, for example, is a HUGE sportsman and they have their house decorated in an outdoors/hunting/fishing theme with quite a few stuffed real animals he has caught. So I decided that it is pretty cool that Hasboro has come out with new editions of all the old figures Jeff played with as a kid for the 25th anniversary, though I never imagined that there were so many different guys and vehicles and weapons as there are. I have even watched some of the old cartoons with him - which brings back memories for me too. Though I didn't remember that everyone would say "GO JOE!" or "COBRA!" in unison so often, it's kind of silly, but hey, it was the 80's - things were a LOT different back then.
Anyway, it's pretty cool that he is on cnn.com
Friday, July 18, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Old Friends
So I got off of work early today and have been "googling" old friends names. It is soooo interesting to see where people are that I haven't seen in over 10 years. I'm glad to see so many people seem happy in their lives.
If anyone ever googles me I hope they see that I am the happiest I've ever been. Life is wonderful!
You should try it sometime, it's fun, googling people I mean - who knows you might find a long-lost friend!
Loves!
Rach
If anyone ever googles me I hope they see that I am the happiest I've ever been. Life is wonderful!
You should try it sometime, it's fun, googling people I mean - who knows you might find a long-lost friend!
Loves!
Rach
Thursday, June 26, 2008
What is this country coming to?
I had every intention of ranting about this issue yesterday, but decided I should wait a day and see if I still felt the same way... I do!
According to CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/25/scotus.child.rape/index.html the Supreme Court of the USA has ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute a child rapist. According to the article, Justice Anthony Kennedy said "We conclude that, in determining whether the death penalty is excessive, there is a distinction between intentional first-degree murder on the one hand and nonhomicide crimes against individual persons, even including child rape, on the other,"
Excuse my french, but WHAT THE HELL???
Obviously they did not have enough data to make an informed decision. Do they not realize that a vast majority of these victims grow up to lead lives full of mental illness, drugs, alcohol, violence and some even commit suicide. Now, how is it okay for the victim to pay for this injustice with his/her life but the same is "unconstitutional" for the perpetrator?
According to Wikipedia - and I strongly suggest reading the whole article -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse
Child sexual abuse can result in both short-term and long-term harm, including psychopathology in later life. Psychological, emotional, physical, and social effects include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, poor self-esteem, dissociative and anxiety disorders; general psychological distress and disorders such as somatization, neurosis, chronic pain, sexualized behavior, school/learning problems; and behavior problems including substance abuse, destructive behavior, criminality in adulthood and suicide. A specific characteristic pattern of symptoms has not been identified and there are several hypotheses on the causality of these associations.
A study funded by the USA National Institute of Drug Abuse found that "Among more than 1,400 adult females, childhood sexual abuse was associated with increased likelihood of drug dependence, alcohol dependence, and psychiatric disorders. The associations are expressed as odds ratios: for example, women who experienced nongenital sexual abuse in childhood were 2.93 times more likely to suffer drug dependence as adults than were women who were not abused."
Sexually abused children suffer from more psychological symptoms than children who have not been abused; studies have found symptoms in 51% to 79% of sexually abused children. Children may develop symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder resulting from child sexual abuse, even without actual or threatened injury or violence.
Okay, so I know I said in my last post that Jeff and I would move out of the country if McCain became president, but this is just as bad. I think I'm going to start looking for work in England. (I know, their proper english is practically a different language, but at least I'll be able to understand some of it.)
I am so angry! This will be one of the biggest reasons if Jeff and I decide not to have children. It makes me physically ill to think about how easily this abuse can happen and how many children live with it and are too afraid to tell anyone about it. Think of your children - try to remember when you were a child yourself - how can anyone hurt such an innocent being? But they do, and the Supreme Court has told those criminals that what they have done or are doing is not that bad and it has told those victims that their lives aren't worth shit.
According to CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/25/scotus.child.rape/index.html the Supreme Court of the USA has ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute a child rapist. According to the article, Justice Anthony Kennedy said "We conclude that, in determining whether the death penalty is excessive, there is a distinction between intentional first-degree murder on the one hand and nonhomicide crimes against individual persons, even including child rape, on the other,"
Excuse my french, but WHAT THE HELL???
Obviously they did not have enough data to make an informed decision. Do they not realize that a vast majority of these victims grow up to lead lives full of mental illness, drugs, alcohol, violence and some even commit suicide. Now, how is it okay for the victim to pay for this injustice with his/her life but the same is "unconstitutional" for the perpetrator?
According to Wikipedia - and I strongly suggest reading the whole article -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse
Child sexual abuse can result in both short-term and long-term harm, including psychopathology in later life. Psychological, emotional, physical, and social effects include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, poor self-esteem, dissociative and anxiety disorders; general psychological distress and disorders such as somatization, neurosis, chronic pain, sexualized behavior, school/learning problems; and behavior problems including substance abuse, destructive behavior, criminality in adulthood and suicide. A specific characteristic pattern of symptoms has not been identified and there are several hypotheses on the causality of these associations.
A study funded by the USA National Institute of Drug Abuse found that "Among more than 1,400 adult females, childhood sexual abuse was associated with increased likelihood of drug dependence, alcohol dependence, and psychiatric disorders. The associations are expressed as odds ratios: for example, women who experienced nongenital sexual abuse in childhood were 2.93 times more likely to suffer drug dependence as adults than were women who were not abused."
Sexually abused children suffer from more psychological symptoms than children who have not been abused; studies have found symptoms in 51% to 79% of sexually abused children. Children may develop symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder resulting from child sexual abuse, even without actual or threatened injury or violence.
Okay, so I know I said in my last post that Jeff and I would move out of the country if McCain became president, but this is just as bad. I think I'm going to start looking for work in England. (I know, their proper english is practically a different language, but at least I'll be able to understand some of it.)
I am so angry! This will be one of the biggest reasons if Jeff and I decide not to have children. It makes me physically ill to think about how easily this abuse can happen and how many children live with it and are too afraid to tell anyone about it. Think of your children - try to remember when you were a child yourself - how can anyone hurt such an innocent being? But they do, and the Supreme Court has told those criminals that what they have done or are doing is not that bad and it has told those victims that their lives aren't worth shit.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
I got tagged by my MIL to answer a few questions - here goes...
a) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I had just finished my first year of school at Utah State University and moved home to Salt Lake City for the summer. I was working two full-time jobs to save money for school (yeah, save money, ha ha ha).
b) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today
1. Sleep in - here it is 9:00am, and I have already been awake for over an hour...
2. Send an email to some old college friends who I had a very vivid dream about last night.
3. Hopefully talk Jeff into going to IKEA to look for the one finishing piece of furniture for our basement make-over
4. Take a nap or play Dr. Mario - I've become addicted to it again, I last played it when I was a young kid and Nintendo was new.
5. Visit with my parents and siblings for our weekly get-together. I sure hope little Harbor is there - I love that kid!
c.) Snacks I enjoy
chips - pretty much ANY kind
Hostess cupcakes - Seriously I could not live without these
Diet Coke
d.) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Pay off mortgages for my family
Pay off all of my debts
Invest my money and live off the interest
Become a lobbyist for tougher laws against sex offenders
Buy jewelry... (I love sparkly things)
Get a maid
Oh, the list could go on and on
e.) Places I have lived
West Valley City, Utah
Logan, Utah
Riverton, Utah
Midvale, Utah
West Jordan, Utah
I know, what a boring list of places to have lived, but if McCain becomes the next US President, we're moving out of the country. :)
Loves, Rachael
a) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I had just finished my first year of school at Utah State University and moved home to Salt Lake City for the summer. I was working two full-time jobs to save money for school (yeah, save money, ha ha ha).
b) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today
1. Sleep in - here it is 9:00am, and I have already been awake for over an hour...
2. Send an email to some old college friends who I had a very vivid dream about last night.
3. Hopefully talk Jeff into going to IKEA to look for the one finishing piece of furniture for our basement make-over
4. Take a nap or play Dr. Mario - I've become addicted to it again, I last played it when I was a young kid and Nintendo was new.
5. Visit with my parents and siblings for our weekly get-together. I sure hope little Harbor is there - I love that kid!
c.) Snacks I enjoy
chips - pretty much ANY kind
Hostess cupcakes - Seriously I could not live without these
Diet Coke
d.) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Pay off mortgages for my family
Pay off all of my debts
Invest my money and live off the interest
Become a lobbyist for tougher laws against sex offenders
Buy jewelry... (I love sparkly things)
Get a maid
Oh, the list could go on and on
e.) Places I have lived
West Valley City, Utah
Logan, Utah
Riverton, Utah
Midvale, Utah
West Jordan, Utah
I know, what a boring list of places to have lived, but if McCain becomes the next US President, we're moving out of the country. :)
Loves, Rachael
Monday, June 2, 2008
Ah, the ups and downs of life...
My dad's surgery was a success! The doctor said that when she removed the part of the colon that had previously held the tumor all that was left was a scar! And she was able to put him back together which means that his ileostomy will not be permanent. Yay! So for several days everyone was in really good spirits and thinking that we were near the end of the "cancer" scare. Unfortunately we were all mistaken. :( When the doctor was in doing the surgery, she also took out several lymph nodes to test if there were cancerous cells still in them, and the results came back yesterday - 5 of 22 contained cancerous cells. So that means that my dad will recover from his surgery for one month, then begin his first of six more chemotherapy treatments. Each treatment lasts 2 weeks, and then he gets a month off, then two weeks until the six treatments are completed. THEN they will test the lymph nodes again and determine if he has any cells remaining. Unfortunately he will have to keep the ileostomy bad through this entire process. (He had previously thought he would be free of it within 6-8 weeks from now.) He is the one with the best attitude about this whole thing - which is really good.
A miracle happened yesterday too. My older brother went to the hospital to visit my dad. I know that doesn't seem like much to most people, but they haven't spoken to each other in a couple of years, and I honestly didn't think they would EVER speak to each other again. But I guess it takes stuff like the possibility of your dad dying to make you think and decide to patch things up. Now if I can only get things patched up between he and I, we can all be one big happy family again. I guess we'll see.
Okay, I need to get back to work. Just wanted to let you all know the news.
Loves,
Rach
A miracle happened yesterday too. My older brother went to the hospital to visit my dad. I know that doesn't seem like much to most people, but they haven't spoken to each other in a couple of years, and I honestly didn't think they would EVER speak to each other again. But I guess it takes stuff like the possibility of your dad dying to make you think and decide to patch things up. Now if I can only get things patched up between he and I, we can all be one big happy family again. I guess we'll see.
Okay, I need to get back to work. Just wanted to let you all know the news.
Loves,
Rach
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday Tuesdays and short weeks
Today has definitely been a Monday Tuesday. The day is lasting FOR-EV-ER, and no matter what I do the time just continues to drag and drag. This is not only due to it being the first day back to work after a long weekend, but during that long weekend we travelled to Denver and back. We had a BLAST! Jeff and I drove his new 4-door Jeep Wrangler across Wyoming on our way there and back the southern route via I-70 & Hwy 6. I must admit that the southern route is MUCH prettier, but it did seem to last a very long time. We went out to visit Jeff's sister and her family and see a few things in Colorado, get away from the house and give Jeff a chance to really drive his new vehicle. Jeff's sister is the oldest in their family, and Jeff is the third of four total, but since he didn't find me until after he was 30, the rest of his family seems so much more progressed with their individual families, and we feel like the youngest of the group. For example, we have a nephew who is 21 and going to college in Arizona. This is a little crazy for me to think about because my little sister is just 21 - how can I have a sister and a nephew that are the same age??? Plus, my sister has been married for two and a half years and has a son that is 18 months old, so in reality, my nephew is old enough to be a father... that would make me a great aunt! Yikes!
Anyhow, we arrived at about midnight on Friday and stayed until about 10:30 on Monday morning. We had such a good time visiting with his sister and her family. We went and saw the dinosaur tracks and the red-rocks ampitheater. We went on a scenic drive through the mountains and Jeff and I had a scrumptious Mexican dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant. We shopped at the mall (but we got there too late to see Tiffany's... probably a good thing as I'm such a HUGE jewelry fan I most likely would have purchased something). We went to breakfast on Sunday at IHOP where our niece just started her first job as a hostess. We all had different varieties of french toast (Yummmmie!) and spent a little while WalMart hopping looking for GI Joes for Jeff (he is collecting the new 25th anniversary figures - he was WAY into them as a kid, and is having tons of fun seeing them all again). We had barbecued burgers for dinner that night again it was fantastic! We watched Patriot Games and all of a sudden the weekend was over and it was time for us to drive home.
Tomorrow my dad is having surgery to remove the cancer, and I am going to be at the hospital to be a support to my mom during the wait. So that means that I will have missed two days of work this week. The down-side of being a contractor is that I have no paid vacation/holiday time, so I'm working 12-hour days today and Thursday and Friday and will be working on stuff tomorrow at the hospital to make up the remaining 4 hours. So here it is 2:00pm and I have already been here for 8 hours. I'll be here for another 4, yikes! I don't know how long it has been since I worked a 12 hour day, probably over a year since I quit working so many hours when I met and married Jeff.
Yay! My boss took me and the two other new employees in our department on a field trip to see one of the larger substations in the Salt Lake Valley and then one of the smaller local ones. He explained what all of the equipment does and the different designs. When you see those arms coming off the poles, they don't look that big from the ground, but in reality they are like 16 feet long! Crazy!
Anyhow, that helped pass some of the time today, so now it is 3:40 and I only have two hours and twenty minutes left today!
Oh, and my dad is going in to surgery tomorrow morning at 7:00am. His surgery is supposed to last about 4 hours. I think I might come back into work after we get the news that he has come through and everything looks good (mostly I'm going to be there to support my mom), and then maybe I won't have to work so long on Thursday and Friday.
Anyway, please keep my daddy in your prayers tomorrow. I'm sure he's going to be fine, but extra prayers can never hurt.
Loves!
Rachael
Anyhow, we arrived at about midnight on Friday and stayed until about 10:30 on Monday morning. We had such a good time visiting with his sister and her family. We went and saw the dinosaur tracks and the red-rocks ampitheater. We went on a scenic drive through the mountains and Jeff and I had a scrumptious Mexican dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant. We shopped at the mall (but we got there too late to see Tiffany's... probably a good thing as I'm such a HUGE jewelry fan I most likely would have purchased something). We went to breakfast on Sunday at IHOP where our niece just started her first job as a hostess. We all had different varieties of french toast (Yummmmie!) and spent a little while WalMart hopping looking for GI Joes for Jeff (he is collecting the new 25th anniversary figures - he was WAY into them as a kid, and is having tons of fun seeing them all again). We had barbecued burgers for dinner that night again it was fantastic! We watched Patriot Games and all of a sudden the weekend was over and it was time for us to drive home.
Tomorrow my dad is having surgery to remove the cancer, and I am going to be at the hospital to be a support to my mom during the wait. So that means that I will have missed two days of work this week. The down-side of being a contractor is that I have no paid vacation/holiday time, so I'm working 12-hour days today and Thursday and Friday and will be working on stuff tomorrow at the hospital to make up the remaining 4 hours. So here it is 2:00pm and I have already been here for 8 hours. I'll be here for another 4, yikes! I don't know how long it has been since I worked a 12 hour day, probably over a year since I quit working so many hours when I met and married Jeff.
Yay! My boss took me and the two other new employees in our department on a field trip to see one of the larger substations in the Salt Lake Valley and then one of the smaller local ones. He explained what all of the equipment does and the different designs. When you see those arms coming off the poles, they don't look that big from the ground, but in reality they are like 16 feet long! Crazy!
Anyhow, that helped pass some of the time today, so now it is 3:40 and I only have two hours and twenty minutes left today!
Oh, and my dad is going in to surgery tomorrow morning at 7:00am. His surgery is supposed to last about 4 hours. I think I might come back into work after we get the news that he has come through and everything looks good (mostly I'm going to be there to support my mom), and then maybe I won't have to work so long on Thursday and Friday.
Anyway, please keep my daddy in your prayers tomorrow. I'm sure he's going to be fine, but extra prayers can never hurt.
Loves!
Rachael
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Thank Goodness!
Some days I feel so grateful for so many things and tend to notice the little things especially. Like tea. My new job provides coffee, tea, hot chocolate or hot apple cider to all employees. I know it is a pretty standard perk, but at times like this morning, when I was getting drowsy, I am so glad that I could run and get a quick cup of green tea which has perked me right up. Luckily I am one of those people who doesn't mind the bitterness and in fact even enjoys it, so I don't need any sweetener, etc.
Another thing I am grateful for is my new job. I know I've said it a ton of times, but I could not have created a better position if I were to make it up myself. I am working on our BIG monthly report today, and I haven't run into any problems so far (knock on wood), it makes me feel good to know that I have learned enough to accomplish this task on my own. :)
I am also thankful for sweaters. I know, crazy, as it is in the 70's outside right now, but I think they keep the office at 60. So I look like a looney driving to work in the mornings all bundled up, but at least I'm able to work once I get here.
Oh, and I'm in love with the Spring weather, it is so nice! Jeff and I walked down to Becca and Jeremy's house on Tuesday and played outside with Harbor for about a half hour. He is so much fun.
I'm so glad that I don't have bad hives today - on Tuesday my eyes were all puffed up by hives, I had tiny slits for eyes - embarassing. Oh, and I'm so happy that I am going to get my hair dyed tonight - it has needed it for a couple of weeks now, but I try to push it as long as possible. Those gals at the beauty school have done an excellent job. Jeff thinks I should get some highlights - what do you think?
Loves!
Rachael
Another thing I am grateful for is my new job. I know I've said it a ton of times, but I could not have created a better position if I were to make it up myself. I am working on our BIG monthly report today, and I haven't run into any problems so far (knock on wood), it makes me feel good to know that I have learned enough to accomplish this task on my own. :)
I am also thankful for sweaters. I know, crazy, as it is in the 70's outside right now, but I think they keep the office at 60. So I look like a looney driving to work in the mornings all bundled up, but at least I'm able to work once I get here.
Oh, and I'm in love with the Spring weather, it is so nice! Jeff and I walked down to Becca and Jeremy's house on Tuesday and played outside with Harbor for about a half hour. He is so much fun.
I'm so glad that I don't have bad hives today - on Tuesday my eyes were all puffed up by hives, I had tiny slits for eyes - embarassing. Oh, and I'm so happy that I am going to get my hair dyed tonight - it has needed it for a couple of weeks now, but I try to push it as long as possible. Those gals at the beauty school have done an excellent job. Jeff thinks I should get some highlights - what do you think?
Loves!
Rachael
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)