365-4 | Peaches Prattlings

{July 16, 2016} A bad day at the beach is better than a good day at the office

Isn’t that what they say? Well, if you all me, it’s true! Good thing I’m moving to an island!

Today was a good day at the beach, better than a walk in the park, sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

I talked to GES the other day and she said they might be going to the beach and she’d let me know when they would be heading out. I got a text this morning and away I went.

JK’s mom, he’s a friend of ACS, has a house in Nantasket a block from the beach, paradise. I got there, changed into my suit and headed down to the beach and surprised EJS and MGS.

There was laughing, silliness, splashing, boogie boarding, body surfing, shell hunting, foot burying, walking, napping, running from the waves, jumping into the waves, hanging out, talking and having a great time.

There is great people watching at the beach, we saw families, teenagers, old, young, silly, goofy, even what someone called the beached whales! These are a group of, let’s just say round, older women who line up their chairs to face the sun and their skin looks like tanned leather, you know they’ve been doing this for centuries! and every once in a while they get up two to three at a time to put their feet in and splash water on themselves.

It’s a really nice beach, the water is clear, the people are nice and it’s not too crowded.

I think I’ve told you how my brother-in-law knows a lot of people, right? He’s from Massachusetts, went to summer camp in Massachusetts and went to UMASS for college.

That being said, he runs into people he knows everywhere. He and GES went for a walk and ran into three people he knew, either from camp or college. JK went to the same camp, that’s how they met, so you can imagine what it’s like!

We even got to see a family we became friends with that we met at Atlantis so many years ago! That was fun, the kids have gotten so big!

GES and I finally packed it in scout 5pm, went back to the house to take showers and hung out on the porch while we waited for everyone else. It was nice sitting on the front porch watching and saying hello to everyone walking home from the beach.

Everyone else got there about 630, took quick showers and we headed out to get some dinner. We chose a place on the water, it was lovely. As we are getting out food, the manager asks if my brother-in-law is ACS, turns out…they went to camp together! Go figure! Then a couple walked by who used to live next door to him growing up! Seriously people, what are the odds?

After dinner, a quick trip to Old Navy, then time to say goodnight.

And that is what I will say to you. Goodnight.

{July 15, 2016} I saw Ghostbusters

I’m glad I did!

I was on the fence when I first heard about it and the first preview didn’t change my mind. I did, however, see the next preview and that changed my mind and I’m glad I took a chance.

It wasn’t a remake, more of a revamp. I can tell you if you stay to the VERY end, you’ll get a snippet of what’s to come, you know a sequel. But I won’t tell you what.

What I will do is mention a few things that I liked and be aware, there will be little spoiler alerts, like who makes a cameo. Of course, you could look at imdb.com or read a review and I’m sure you’ll see it.

You have your straight laced professor, Kristen Wiig, wacky ‘ghostologist’, yes I know that’s not what they’re called, Melissa McCarthy, her zany sidekick, Kate McKinnon, both scientists and then at some point the total ‘woman off the street’, Leslie Jones. It seemed like a who’s who of Saturday Night Live when I looked people up on imdb.com. Oh man, Chris Hemsworth was hysterical! He played the receptionist. Beautiful and dumb as a box of rocks!

There were some similarities and some nods to the originals, things like the fire station, the car, of course, the containment boxes.

Then the cameos, original players cameos…spoiler alert…I’m not going to tell you who they were or where in the movie, just that they were there. There was a tribute to Harold Ramis early on, Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson, even the Staypuff Marshmallow Man and Slimer! The only one missing was Rick Moranis, I kept waiting for him to appear, part of the reason I stayed to the end. That and I learned to stay after all the Marvel movies.

Bottom line, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Looking forward to seeing it again.

{July 15, 2016} Uber redeemed itself

I’ve been taking Uber for a while now and I really like it.

I’ve had some good experiences, some excellent and some less than excellent. Today, less than just good.

Uber has a level of service that I have gotten accustomed to. They smile and say hello and when they notice I have bags, they get out help me load the bags into the trunk. On the way to the destination, they are usually pleasant, engage me in conversation and at the drop off, get out of the car to help take my bags out.

Let’s just say, my driver this morning didn’t acknowledge my presence, didn’t help me with my bags, I had to tell him to pop the trunk so I could load them. Then he drove erratically, I felt like I was in a bad NYC taxi! He seemed quite agitated. Let’s just say, a less than favorable trip.

I decided that I was going to say something, so when I gave my rating, it was stars and I added comments.

I got an email from their customer service department with apologies and a credit of $5, nice. That’s some good customer service.

If this had been my first Uber experience, it may have been my last.

I took Uber on two more trips tonight and…I was quite pleased, they both got all Stars.

Well done Uber, well done.

{July 14, 2016} At least get my name right!

Do you ever get called a different name?

There are names that are similar or of your just not thinking you might call someone by that name inadvertently.

I get when names are close, here’s a list I found on yahoo, interestingly, my name is not on it, hmmm…https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110305140846AAy7qhF. It’s when they aren’t even close that it makes no sense.

Get this, for some reason, my name gets confused with Stephanie, I know, crazy, right! It used to happen with my cousin Stephanie and I and even someone I worked with, it wad crazy.

So, yesterday, I got a text from an agent wanting to show my apartment, she had texted a few days ago, intruding herself and addresses me by my name. Yesterday, guess what name she used..in the text…if she had looked at her previous text, it had my name…

Think I had a good laugh with my class? You betcha! Hmmm..

A rose by any other name…right?

{July 13, 2016} There must be something in the water!

No! I am not pregnant!

But it seems as if every other woman in Chicago is! Are you seeing the same thing where you are? It’s almost as if you can’t turn around without bumping into a baby bump.

My daughter has one, it’s a beautiful thing, so of course I think about her every time I see one!

That being said, mothers-to-be, due in the fall, please don’t blame your babies for being hot, sticky and uncomfortable during the summer, no matter how excited you are, it’s not their fault. I make this request as a September baby.

Back to my original muse…it seems that a boom in pregnancy seems to happen in waves, this is a ‘heat’ wave.

That being said…I’m not drinking the water in Chicago!

{July 12, 2016} How do I say thank you?

Let me count the ways…one, two, three. Ha ha.

Oh my, that was funny, made me think of the Count on Sesame Street, which makes me smile.

And that’s where you come in, my friends and family. I don’t know if I’ve said thank you in a while.

As I’ve probably told you before, I’m always amazed and so very grateful at who is reading my posts, especially when I don’t know you personally. And those of you that take the time to post a comment, you flatter me.

I was inspired by a comment left yesterday, “I’ve been browsing online more than 4 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me.In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be much more useful than ever before.”

I appreciate my friends and family for reading my posts and to you, my extended friends and family and to the be person who finds my blog and decides to stay a while, maybe even subscribe and possibly post a comment, to each of you, I will forever be beholden to you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

{July 11, 2016} I do not like pickled plums…

Sam I am. I so wanted that to work!

Tonight I flew through DTW and went to one of my favorite Japanese restaurants, Spray. Actually, it was a favorite of almost everyone on the same project when we were at UMHS.

I stopped in there and ordered a salad, a tofu dosh and a pickled plum roll, no wasabi. I didn’t know what pickled plum was like, I asked my server, she hadn’t had it, but served it quite often, ok, let’s try it, I’m game!

Um…my personal opinion…ewe…it was so you! So not for me! Turns out I’ve tried pickled plum before, in something I tried in Hawaii, as soon as I took my first bite I remembered and, if anyone who knows me knows I don’t like ginger, but I ate ginger, had to get the taste out!

I wasn’t sending it back, so I decided to just poked the pickled plum out and ate the cucumbers, rice and seaweed with some soy sauce. When the server came by and asked how it was, I told her what I thought as I was laughing.

So…as my mom always said, just try it. I did, because who knows what you’ll like until you try it and the bottom line…no more picked plum for me!

{July 9, 2016} A natural redhead?

Nope, that was my mom.

Me…it comes out of a box and I’m ok with that. I come from a long line of dark-haired people, I was born with a full head of black hair, actually, I was covered with it, for a minute anyway.

My dad had key black hair, GES was born with white blond hair which turned very dark as she grew up. My mom on the other hand had red hair, I mean red, orange-red and it was long and beautiful and fabulous. Unfortunately, as a baby, I would grab it and get tangled so she cut it. At least that’s what I remember her telling me.

Her red hair came from her dad, but I only remember six red hairs on the top of his freckled head.

I always envied red hair, I used to use hydrogen peroxide to lighten streaks in my hair, tried dying it on occasion, got in trouble for the dye on the walls, oops.

I let it get dark again then I started getting it dyed professionally, it was fun. I started with Baby Spice platinum streaks in with the red hair. Then it progressed to multiple streak colors in with the overall red. I did the streaks so many times that my hair streaks now on its own.

So, it’s now been years since I’ve been a red-head, I stay that way, every 6-8 weeks. I even do my eyebrows! Gotta match. Right? It costs me about $3, I know, big spender here. Maybe someday I’ll go pro again, I do miss the steaks and the colors.

The reason I am talking about this at all, is because as I told you, I colored my hair Friday morning and when I saw my landlord today he said “did you have red hair last time I saw you?” My response, “every time I color it” ha ha.

And…apparently I do a good enough job and I’m pale enough that people I meet don’t know I’m not a real redhead, works for me. And…Guess who’s granddaughter, LB, has the same hair color?

A joke I was asked…”If a red head goes crazy, is that a ginger snap?” Ha ha.

Will I follow in my mother’s footsteps and keep this practice up? You bet your sweet bippie! I am going to stay a red head as long as I can.

Go red!

{July 8, 2016} 15 hours to get home? Seriously?

You thought July 4th was a long day? A walk in the park!

Speaking of walking, I wonder if I could have walked back to Boston…my alarm went off at 545 am as it does every weekday, I was only about 10 minutes at the most from the airport, so I took my time.

I did my hair, I prefer the sparklers on the 4th, rather than in my hair, ha ha. Shower, dressed, breakfast, load the car, fill the tank [$2.49], go to the airport, drop off the rental car, check in and then sit in the waiting area, which is right outside the 2 gates they have.

I wasn’t even sure we’d take off, big storms yesterday and this morning, but we did. It was a little toasty on the sessna, the air wasn’t very strong, maybe they should have left the window open! 9 other people on the plane with me and about 15 minutes in, I was unconscious, another awesome nap! Probably the highlight of my day.

I wasn’t sure if I’d make it to my flight in St. Louis since we left late, but we made it, wahoo, with about 45 minutes to spare, great. Got some food, found a charger then eventually got on the plane. And we sat…and waited and waited…delayed due to weather, hmm…

Got to Philly about 3 minutes after the boarding doors closed on my connecting flight. Thank you gate agent for being less than helpful.

Got in line for customer service, along with the other 50 people who got in late or flights were canceled, called my travel company, they couldn’t help. I called the airline…the next 2 flights were booked. I’m now on the 815pm flight. Considered renting a car and driving the 5+ hours, but I stuck it out. It’s now about 4pm, won’t be too bad, right?

Went and got some food, did some shopping then sat and sat and sat. The charging stations that worked were full, half of them didn’t work to begin with…

The 815p flight is now leaving at 9pm, seriously? So, I sat and waited and finally got on the plane where the woman next to me panicked when the air came on and there was condensation that looked like smoke, that was fun.

It’s now 11pm, I am just getting to my rental car and I started my travel day at 7am. I joked that I could have been in Hawaii a few hours by now!

Time to go home, hug the kitties and pass out! Sounds good to me. I’m safe and sound, all that matters!

Good night!

{July 8, 2016} I really like what I do.

Every time I get in front of a class, I am reminded of why I I’m there and how much I love it.

I may have talked about this before, so I hope you don’t mind if I do it again.

I’ve always enjoyed training, but I didn’t realize how much until someone stated paying me to do it. I know how that sounds, but let me explain.

For a long time at different companies, somehow I would be identified as someone who could train, so a lot of times they would get a be application and say “here, we just got this, figure it out and teach it to us!” Ok…

The sweetest moment was when I was teaching my son something craft related, he was about 10 and he looked looked at me and said “your a good teacher”. Hmm, think my heart melted then?

There was even a point where I thought I wanted to be a teacher, I met SDL when I was in grad school in Atlanta. I didn’t finish my masters, but I met one of my best friends, that sounds like a good deal to me!

My mom had even said, “if you come back to NY, I can get you a job in any school”, hmmm..I didn’t, but it was a thought. Both my parents were amazing teachers, it must be genetic. Well, it didn’t get me back there, but she was right, I would make a great teacher, just in a different type of classroom.

After I got divorced, I was looking for work and had lunch with a friend one day, PK, and the company he was working for was looking for trainers. I had never been officially paid as a trainer, let’s see what happens. I interviewed and apparently, whatever I said worked! They hired me and so began my life and love of being a road warrior, it sparked the bug and as you know, I’m still doing it.

I realized a few things, I can learn applications pretty easily, I need to practice, have hands on time to try and try and try, instead of sit there and listen to someone talk, especially if they are not engaging. I can “fake it til ya make it”, even if I don’t really know the subject matter, no one knows because I’m confident in my delivery. Sometimes I am just memorizing the material and don’t really understand it until I’ve taught it a few times, then things click and I’m really on.

As I tell anyone who asks, to me ‘an application is an application is an application’ and what I mean by that is I don’t even have to understand it, I have to help you understand how to use it to do your job day to day. I do actually learn it, just sometimes not right away.

I have to tell you, when I get in front of a class, I soar, I could be dead on my fear tired but when I get up there in front of the class, it’s like bam! I’m on! I might collapse at lunch or the end of the day, the minute I start teaching, wow, I come alive! I am very energetic, try to be engaging, so far it seems to be working.

I know what is like to be in a boring class, not want to be there in the first place and have a boring or bad trainer. I want to be sure that you stay awake, engaged, participate, enjoy yourself and heaven forbid…learn something!

What people tell me on their way out of class or sometimes during a break encourages me and makes it all worthwhile and that’s what it’s really all about and why I know I’m where I’m supposed to be, doing what I’m supposed to be doing and I love it. What do they say…if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life. You were right mommy, darn it!

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