Concerto 21

January 9, 2015January 9, 2015 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

On the radio the other day they played Mozart’s Piano Concerto 21 and mentioned that there was a study done somewhere (Sweden? Switzerland? I couldn’t find it) that concluded that women who listened to this specific concerto during lamaze classes and while in labor had a much more pleasant experience giving birth (how they prove this I have no idea). But interesting concept.

So today, I decided to give it a try. Not having a baby, but since I was struggling to produce any meaningful work, I thought listening to Concerto 21 might help me birth out some good results.

So far: not working. But you did get this post. You can thank Mozart and KUSC for that.

Wicked Pissah

December 5, 2013 ~ meh ~ 2 Comments

Someone went to Boston for the first time and got a hat for the occasion. First time on a plane. First time out of Kentucky. First time meeting family. First time with the duck boats.

Despite a few massive BMs when going through security, she was a champ during both flights.

danger TSA, explosions likely

This was a trip to see family, so it involved lots of chaos and yelling (happy yelling, that’s just how this side of the family talks to each other) and food and, of course, beeah and the Pats.

poser

(At one point Paul actually asked me, “Wait, why is there a Dunkin Donuts on every corner?”)

HH also got to meet her great granny.

They bonded over not having any teeth.

Now we’re back in Kentucky, it is really dark and really rainy and I am feeling really uninspired (if that isn’t obvious). ALTHOUGH! The office advent calendar is out again! Of course! Right next to my desk! Because it’s Advent! Which means every morning there is a gathering right by the entrance to my cube.

This morning’s gathering turned into a verbal confrontation between a Catholic coworker and another coworker who is the wife of a Baptist minister. Apparently the Catholic woman stole the Jesus out of the Baptist woman’s nativity scene that she set up by her desk, because Jesus hasn’t been born yet. This is the ADVENT. We’re waiting and preparing.

Anyway, the theme for this year’s calendar?

Angry birds. I built the green pig.

More energy to follow.

Green Tomatoes

October 25, 2013October 26, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Or: Reasons Why It Doesn’t Completely Suck to Go Back To Work:
Green tomatoes from my coworker (because before I left for maternity leave I was talking about how I wanted to make fried green tomatoes.) Nice.

I used to hate this door. I made fun of it regularly and often talked about putting a picture of Spike on there. I didn’t understand why I had to be assaulted by everyone’s grandbaby pictures every time I went into the kitchen.

But then I came back from being gone and someone in the office had printed a monster sized picture of my baby’s head and stuck it in the middle of the door. Hammerhead dominates the kitchen door. Anybody going into the kitchen is totally assaulted by her 10-minute-old face. Now I hate it less. I actually kind of love it.

Oh hey there XXX cubetree, nice to see you again.

And finally, I had never realized how enjoyable it can be listening to music and filing 2 months worth of emails uninterrupted. I really appreciated that on Monday. It’s since lost a little bit of its shine, but still. Uninterrupted time is nice.

…and with that, week #1 DONE. Happy weekend!

Update

October 24, 2013October 28, 2013 ~ meh ~ 4 Comments

The lactation station is even creepier on dark, rainy days.

Lactation Station

October 22, 2013March 28, 2014 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Breastfeeding is kind of weird. Pumping is weirder. Pumping in the office because you went back to work before the baby is eating regular food is weirdest.

But thanks to some pushing from my boss, my employer is providing me with a room where I can pump (or, as our (male) HR manager refers to it, a “lactation station”. Said in all seriousness.)

Our office is in a big building. My firm is on the 4^th floor. The room is on the 7^th. So yesterday I was handed a key, taken up to the empty 7th floor, and led to a nondescript door.

We opened the door.

This is not just a room(/station). It’s an entire office suite. A completely empty office suite. With lots of empty rooms.

Random, abandoned furniture and books (including Dallas Cowboys: The Authorized Pictorial History). Holes in the ceiling. Holes in the wall. Plaster peeling off the walls, littering the ground.

It is very empty and potentially really creepy. Especially the sink.

And not because it looks like you might get tetanus from touching the sink, but because there is a huge hole in the ceiling right above where you stand to wash your hands. And yesterday, as I was rinsing out the equipment, I heard this scratching/thumping noise coming from inside the ceiling. Right above my head.

I couldn’t tell if it was something happening on another floor, or a huge rat (or person) about to launch an aerial attack through the car-sized hole. (I don’t know why it is that every time I hear an unidentified noise anywhere I assume it’s something coming to attack me. But I do. Especially when I’m in a locked room on an abandoned floor far from anybody who might hear my screams.)

Nothing happened. This time. I brought my mace today.

HOWEVER! In the room that I actually pump in, there is a really nice view aaand…

…a couch. And after getting a feel of what my sleep patterns might be over the next few months….heeeeelllooooo lactation station.

Advent

December 1, 2011December 5, 2013 ~ meh ~ 4 Comments

At 8:15 this morning one of my coworkers came bounding up to my desk, big box in hand, smile on face, and giddily told me, “Just FYI, we set up an advent calendar on this file cabinet here right by your desk every year, so for the next 24 days people will be gathering here every morning to watch it get opened.”

Sure enough, everyone and their mother came by my desk this morning to admire it and get REALLY EXCITED. The theme this year? Star Wars Legos. Because what says preparation for the Nativity of Christ more than that.

So every day has a little bag of lego pieces that build something. And because I’m the newest one in the office, and because this daily event happens just outside the door of my cube, I was chosen to build the first one:

I think it is some sort of ship (?)

I won’t lie, there were a lot of little pieces and with everyone watching me try to figure out how to put it together, I did experience some performance anxiety. But in the end, I prevailed.

Hello, December.