Fabulous Fanny Packs

Fanny packs have been in my life for quite some time. The Pam is quite the fan. She is a mom, so that is ok. Recent events have brought the fanny pack back into my life. As a tribute, I would like to post this lovely pic of myself at the Sugar Bowl. Please don't focus on my face. I look like someone should be holding my arms down so I don't hurt myself. Focus on the fanny pack. The matching fanny packs and all their glory.

The Long Wait

Before I left town for the weekend I needed to stop by CVS and pick up a prescription. The pharmacist told me it would take 20 minutes. An hour and a half later, I left CVS with my prescription. What took so long is the boring part of the story. In my hour in a half at CVS, I did a great deal of people watching. All of the condoms are placed directly in front of the pharmacy counter. It is hilarious to watch people try to be nonchalant about getting condoms. Really, there should be nothing to be embarrassed about. You are having sex. Good for you. You are being safe with your sex. Bonus points! The best thing about all these embarrassed people picking up their contraceptives is that they are in this special case. It's not really locked but as the directions state, you must push the button in front of the product you would like, open the tray and remove your item. If these steps are not followed in that specific order (which they rarely were) an announcement comes over the loud speaker. "Manager needed to assist customer in family planning." This announcement repeats until a manager resets the system. The added attention increased the squirming and was extremely amusing.

Security had to be called twice in my hour and a half of waiting. The first time was for a man who was screaming about customer service and his constitutional rights to share his opinion on CVS' customer service. The second time was about a half hour later. I heard the manager being paged to aisle 2. "Manager to aisle 2, manager to aisle 2." Directly followed by "security to aisle 2, security to aisle 2." Then the shouting started. The woman in aisle 2 screamed "oh no you didn't just call security on me." I was sitting at the end of aisle 10 and could hear her clear as day. The shouting continued and at one point I caught a glimpse of the manager with his hand on her shoulders trying to guide her out of the store. Of course, she was not happy with this. There was more shouting and she started throwing things. At one point the woman reentered the store. In the shuffle of trying to get her out again a baby was hit and the baby started wailing. To add to the mayhem, while all of this was going on the automated announcement kept repeating "Manager needed to assist customer in family planning." The manager was busy trying to remove the screaming, baby-hitting woman from the store and was unable to assist the guy in family planning. I think his face turned 8 shades of red. It was great and really helped me make it through my long wait. While CVS did take forever to fill my prescription, they did a great job entertaining me while I waited.

Workin' for the Weekend

I'm about to head out for the weekend. Big plans are ahead of me. Hon Fest, Family Summit, Sterling leaving. Big plans people. This evening we have a bit of fun in store. I'm heading to the mall to kill some time (like I'm 13) and then I'm off to meet my sister for a movie and maybe some CakeLove. We already agreed this morning that dinner would be movie theater popcorn. Bethany is coming along and does not agree with the plan. She has decided that she is going to pop in next door and bring in a taco with her to the movie. A TACO!!! Can you believe it? Have you ever heard of such a thing? I just don't know what to say. Feel free to discuss.

A Gosling We Will Go

Yesterday I made my way over to Dirksen Senate Building for a very special cause, celebrity stalking/ENOUGH campaign. Ryan Gosling and Ben Mackenzie are hot. I mean, there is a terrible crisis happening in Northern Uganda and I wanted to gather more information on what I could do to help. A horrific struggle has been going on for 20 years including displacement, murders (almost genocide), and child soldiers. The real travesty was that I didn't actually get to get close enough to speak to either of them. I had to duck out early for a date. It was a win/win situation really.
I was very interested in what all the speakers had to say. Some horrible things are going on in Uganda and, with some help, hopefully the issues can be resolved and the healing process can begin. It was a bit troubling/unconvincing how the speakers thought those in the audience should help. The wanted everyone to write letters to the White House and talk to their government officials and get them excited about that cause. It's lovely in theory but that really isn't the way to get things done. I agreed most with Melissa Fitzgerald. She said that you need to use the power of your own vote and vote for people who have the same views and passions as you. Vote these people into office so then they can vote for what you believe in. For a more detailed account on what was discussed and just another point of view, check out Bethany's take on it all.
So in summary. Ryan Gosling...

...hot.
Ben Mackenzie...

...hot but unclear as to why he was there.
A much better venture in celebrity stalking than at Thanksgiving.

Birthday Blog (almost)

As I walked towards my office door today I saw that it was closed and had the lovely addition of a big yellow bow. I opened my door to find a cheerful office covered in yellow and pink ribbon and streamers. There were sunflowers, gerbera daisies and cupcakes! It was great. The cupcakes were delicious. My girls are wonderful. I have a personal policy that no one should have to work on their birthday. My boss understands my policy and so I will be spending tomorrow poolside. It was an amazing pre-birthday celebration. Thanks ladies.

Goodbye Girls

Gilmore Girls was the origination of so many things for me. Watching TV over the phone with my sister, strangers mistaking my name "oh yes, like the show," and most and notably and importantly, Slutty Thursdays. I could go on forever about how I love the witty banter and pop culture references. Unfortunately the show could not do the same. As we were walking through the zoo, Sterling asked me how we are going to related every moment of our lives now that all our shows have been cancelled. First it was Friends, then Gilmore Girls, now we are left with nothing. It's like we will have to live our own lives. Who wants to do that? My latest theory is that nothing in life is truly real. Everything is something we saw on TV or just a figment of our imagination.

Walk Left, Stand Right

To increase my cardio, I have been trying to make the effort to walk up the escalator when riding the metro. During the morning commute this is rarely a problem. Everyone is just pushing along, trying to get to work. This morning I could see that I had a clear path up the escalator, when and old man cut me off as I was getting on and decided to stand on the left side. That's right. The left side. As I have witnessed from the masses of tourists, not everyone knows the Walk Left Stand Right rule. I don't really understand why people don't get this. It's not like there aren't escalators all over the country. I can feel the commuters behind me encroaching. I politely say "excuse me." No response. I say again "excuse me sir." The man turns around, looks at me and then turn back. I turn around to the people who are buzzing behind me and they are all giving me looks like "what is this guy's deal?!!?!" I can feel the pressure. I decide that I'm going for it. I again say "excuse me sir." The old man turns around and looks at me not saying anything. I then say "sir, you have to stand on the right." With that he moved and I could hear everyone behind me simultaneously sigh in relief. When I reached the top I felt kind of bad. It wasn't like I yelled at this man, but still. I'm sure karma is going to bite me big on this one.