Seven wins

He deserves it, you know. (The photo's from OLN, the great guys who broadcast the tour every year.) And, yes, I'm a tour junkie. Guess that's what happens after you read a couple of books and end up going on vacation when the only decent thing on in the middle of the day is the tour. Besides, it really is exciting to say, "Hey, did you see Lance pass Ullrich in the first time trial?"

Books!

A trip to Borders almost always does me in. I could be completely broke and have lots of money invested (yes, books are an investment) in books.

Hmm, the last book I read was by Max Lucado, Six Hours one Friday. I'm going to start on Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen next, and have to finish The Success Principles by Jack Canfield by the end of August.

I found three more I'd like at Borders last night: Queen Noor; My Life with the Shah; and the 2005 Guide to the Tour de France by Bob Roll . . . it's pretty hard to get out of there without buying anything, but it happened last night - maybe only because I paid bills yesterday.

Did I mention that I've decided I like Borders better than Barnes & Nobles? It might have something to do with the fact that my favorite professor, Rich Flanagan, used to be the CEO of Borders and had a little something to do with putting a Borders in Winston-Salem - and lots of other places for that matter. He's credited with growing the business from about 40 to about 400 stores - and, on top of that, he was a pretty upstanding guy who was always very gracious and geniuine. (Borders has even named an award after him - look here.)

Now, that's not to say they could lose that coveted status. They've done away with the music department desk and the whole section is littler now (not to mention I couldn't find the Maroon 5 cd that I was looking for last night); they're selling a bunch o'yoga mats and pilates balls, which might be ok, except that they're not a fitness store; and, it seems that they're doing away with stationing a 'help desk' in the middle of the store. Why you would get rid of the main points of customer service, I don't know. I don't think it will make them any more competitive, and I'd bet that the new CEO thinks they need to cut costs. However, their largest costs aren't in their people; they're in the inventory. (They are a retail store; if the inventory doesn't turn, there's a problem.)

Think about it: If one slot of CDs holds 10 CDs, there are 10 slots per row, and six rows per CD stand, that's 600 CDs in one CD stand. Multiply that by 10 stands, 10 sections, that's about 60,000 CDs in one store. At an average of $12 a pop, that's $720,000 that could be sold. Of course, the company spent less than that to get the CDs in the store, but you get the picture.

People, on the other hand, are about $10 an hour (Yes, I'm being generous. I don't have any idea how much Borders is paying it's people.) Let's assume it's a slow time - maybe 10 employees in the store: 2 in cafe, 2 at front registers, 2 managers, 4 others floating/stocking/working those info desks. The only people who would get benefits are the managers and the full-time employees, so let's assume four of those. $1,000 a hour for 10 employees + taxes (most of which are included the employees' checks) + benefits for managers. Cutting those who staff the info desks will save (2 employees x $10/hour x 14 hours open a day x 7 days a week x 50 days a year) about $102,000 a year per store. But will those positions just be shifted elsewhere? I bet at least one of those "people" is retained to accomodate further questions, etc., that will be fielded at the front desk now.

Well, it's time to take the dog for walk so that I won't have to re-vacuum the house today (she sheds constantly in the summer, you know.)

Sometimes, all I long for . . .

is a coherent sentence. In fact, I was so sleeepy last night, I remember that was the only coherent thought I could formulate when I was asked a question. - "Sometimes, I wish I could make a coherent sentence."

I've been drumming, you see

Yep, just a few days. But hey, I feel like I have a life right now. And even if I don't, the tour is over, so I won't stay up late trying to see who wins the stage!

Been drumming a couple of times in the last couple of weeks. Turns out, there a "Living Rhythms Community Drumming School" that's basically FOTP (Free and Open to the Public, for all those non-PR people out there) on Saturday nights, here in the bustling metropolis of the Krispy Kreme Capital of the World. Something really great about the community building they're doing there.

It was pretty unusual. My girlfriends and I were out having a unusual "girls night out," wandered around, and found this tea/coffee shop we'd never been to, so we thought we'd check it out. Well, turns out this tea/coffee shop is also the tai chi/yoga studio that opens onto a back patio where this drumming session happens every Saturday night.

We stood around at the edges of the crowd, and I know that I (at least) was thinking, "Wow! This is really neat! I wonder who these people are." We watched, pretty much mesmerized for probably 20 minutes or so. During that time, we saw little kids come running into the middle of the circle, pick up some sort of noisemaker, and start in.

It echoed that principle (for the life of me, I can't remember what it's called) that my world music instructor shared with us during the last semester of undergrad. In fact, perhaps that's part of why I enjoyed this drumming thing so much: she brought some guy in with a whole bunch of African drums, etc., to class once. For a solid hour and a half, that's what we did.

I'm pretty sure the idea was to show that you don't necessarily need musical training to make good music. In fact, a good number of the kids (I was the oldest one in the class - the rest were Freshmen or Sophomores) had absolutely no musical experiences at all - other than singing in the shower. After a while, we were told, a group just finds a rhythm.

It happened. What makes it even neater is that not only do you find a rhythm while you're playing, your body matches the rhythm: your heart beats with it, you breathe in time to it, if you're moving, you move in time to it. Very cool.

So, nonetheless, I've been very interested in drumming ever since - and this was just another opportunity to experience that feeling. I highly suggest it, even if you are a stick in the mud and don't care for that sort of thing. There's something therapeutic, relaxing, and comforting about being around people who don't even care if you can find the complicated part of the drumming - just add in on the baseline.

And hey, the kids are pretty cute, too.

Ahh, the future.

So, recently I've been thinking a lot about the future: what job will I have? Will I pursue a Ph.D. immediately or wait a year or two? Kids? If we move, where will we move? Do we want to stay in Winston, or go somewhere else?

I think the basis of this is coming from the amount of change happening around me: I suddenly have lots of friends in the area (that's really odd to me - I've always had lots of long-distance relationships); I love my house, and while I have great ideas for it, I wonder what I'd be able to do with a larger house; one set of friends is officially separated, another is having a scary disagreement right now; people I know are having babies; my parents might think about retiring soon . . .

So, anyone know of any good Ph.D. Higher Ed programs out there? Anyone hiring a marketing coordinator/manager for decent money? (Did I tell you how thrilled I was with the $1098 bonus that I'm getting from the state this year???) There's a position which does almost exactly what I do in Connecticut for $43,000+ a year. . . I seriously considered Connecticut for about 5 minutes after seeing that posting - until I found out how much I'd have to spend to live there.

And, I'm not teaching swimming in the fall. Turns out, the college thinks it's too difficult to figure out my time (since I actually have to keep it - did I tell you that I'd really like to be professional staff? Then I'd get a 4.5% raise instead of a $1098 bonus -read: repeating money vs. one-time money.) So, although I really enjoy it, I'm not going to have a great two-hour break in the middle of the week any longer, and unless I can get my boss to let me leave at 4:30 every day, I won't be getting a decent parking spot any longer either.

Oh well. I'm disgruntled, and I can keep whining, but I bet you guys don't want to hear that. So, I'll either do something about it or shut-up.

Not a real priest.

Nope, he's not. I've known that ever since the first time that he came to substitute at church. He sounded a little too much like a tent revival preacher. And, hey, the white chasuble thing he wears has really pointy sleeves, which reminds me of the KKK outfits.

Anyway, he was subbing for the regular priest today. And after sitting through a particular boring sermon (in which he tends to mention things which I simply don't believe - and would like to think that others in the church don't believe either - all the answers in the Bible aren't found in Revelation!), we had communion. Now, communion in an Episcopal church is different than communion in a Roman Catholic church.

In an Episcopal church, anyone can take Communion. In the Roman Catholic church, you can take Communion if you're a part of the Roman Catholic church or any of the Orthodox churches, although you are urged to respect your own faith traditions. Others in the Christian faith are welcomed at Communion and are encouraged to receive a blessing during this special part of the Mass. Of course, we all pray for true Communion in the fullness of time. (For more on this, go here.)

In any case, you can also receive a blessing at an Episcopal church, the same as you would at a Catholic church. I've been doing this at this Episcopal church for years. Today, evidently, was different.

I went to receive my blessing, as I always do and was completely passed over. He lingered with the bread in front of me, as if waiting for me to 'change my mind' and then moved right past me. He served others, but he refused my request for a blessing!

It is possible that he hasn't been an active priest in years that he completely forgot what people did when they want a blessing (you cross your arms over your chest, in an X shape). I don't think he truly did it out of malice, but I'm mad. I'm furious. It's a good thing that he's not often at church, because if he were, I'd never go back.

In any case, I'll be mentioning something to the senior or junior wards on the vestry the next time I see them. I feel that if I didn't let someone know, he could do something similar to a visitor and they would never come back. It's that kind of important, and hey, let's face it: this church needs all the people to attend that it can get. This guy isn't helping anything.

Just in case you hadn't realized . . .

The spell check doesn't check the title. Go figure.

Not feeling so hot this morning. Need more sleep, but figured I'd get up and take my medicine, which is one of those you have to take 45 minutes before, well, basically anything. Have to sit straight up, can't workout, can't drink coffee, can't eat, shouldn't bend over. Yuck. This stuff might have something to do with the not so hot feeling, because I was just tired when I rolled out of bed this morning.

But, the magical 45 minutes is over now, and although I think food would probably make me feel better, the idea of it makes me feel worse. Maybe I'll get more water and let my tummy figure it out.

And, may I add, that if you don't take those other little pills the ob/gyn gives you every day, then that favorite visitor that us women never want to hear or see comes to visit again - not right on time, but early. Trying to nip that one in the bud, 'cause that's just one of the particularly hated things in my life.

So, enough of the fussing. I'm gonna go make myself feel better and maybe I'll write more later.

Evidentially . . .

I really, really like exclamation points. Take a look at the blog entry titles.

Oh well. Guess you get a look at my true nature now.

You mean people actually read this thing?!

Ok, I know there are a few of you out there, so I figured if I had enough time to bid on a dvd on ebay and look for the Maroon 5 cd, then I probably had enough time to actually put a blog entry in. So here I am.

Problem is, I can't really find one thing that I really want to write about. Jess got a job and a blog - the blog I find out about after she says, "So how do you like my blog?"- completely assuming that I'd checked that yahoo account that I said I'd be checking more frequently after they cracked down on websites and personal email at that silly government job of mine. Go figure - they might actually want you to work! (At least I'm not one of those who checks ebay consistently throughout the day at work - I don't think I've ever visited ebay while I was work. Which begs the question: Who else is with me? Let me know.)

The Limited is having a fairly good sale, as is Ann Taylor, but I can't afford Ann Taylor (see reference to government job, above). Side note: do you know the average square feet for a Limited store is over 6,000? You could fit, oh, 5 of my house in a Limited store.

And, a show of hands please: who else is completely over Tom "I know psychiatry, Matt, and you don't" Cruise? I wish it would hurt his image more than it will, because he deserves it. He's way out of line and, although I don't wish it on anyone, perhaps he'd like to meet and live with someone who has any sort of mental issue. I can count at least four people with whom I come into contact on a regular basis who deal with this struggle each and every day. You can read the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill's response to Tom's recent statements here. And, if you haven't read Brooke Shield's response to Tom, you can do that here.

Go girl. Get him good. And God bless Katie Holmes. I don't know what she's gonna do when she realizes what (hopefully) the rest of the intelligent world has realized: Tom's becoming a blubbering idiot.