Marriott vs. Sheraton

We went out to dinner tonight with our friends Chuck and Gail, to the buffet at the Sheraton in Lynnfield. Gail is a five-star employee of the Marriott Hotel chain. When the waitress handed Gail her check and a Sheraton pen with which to sign the credit card receipt, Gail didn't skip a beat--she opened her purse, took out a Marriott pen, signed the receipt and tucked the Marriott pen in with the signed receipt. The Sheraton pen "disappeared."

That's how you chip away at the competition. I wonder how long it will take someone to notice the switch.

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Life is too short...

to wear sock with holes
drink crappy beer
have breast cancer (today is the one-year anniversary of my diagnosis)

What can you add? I'll add to the list and we can watch it grow.

Dave offered several, here are the highlights (it's my blog, I get to pick)
to drink white beer
fold underwear

From Kathy Rose:
Life is too short to iron .. well, anything.
Life is too short to yell at your kids for leaving the lights on.
Life is too short to talk to telesales people.
Life is too short to worry about what other people think of your clothes, your cooking ability, or how clean your house is.
Life is too short to keep track of how many times you've been insulted (and who did it).

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Unwanted guest

Insomnia dropped by recently and decided to stay for a few days. Insomnia and I have had a relationship (notice I didn't call it a "friendship") for a while, and now that Aromasin is part of my life, Insomnia shows up more often than she used to.

Aromasin is, I hope, the miracle drug I take daily for five years following breast cancer treatment. It should ward off any chance of recurrence. We'll see, won't we??

Aromasin is good friends with Insomnia and another occasional guest, Joint Pain. Makes me hope all the harder that, in spite of her other relationships, Aromasin will have an overall decent one with me.

Anyway, in an effort to send Insomnia packing, I tried the usual good remedy of an OTC sleeping pill on Thursday night. Usually works like a charm but not this time. I spent Friday with a bad case of the stupids. I was just slightly off center and a half-step behind everything. Classic sleeping pill hangover. And then along came Joint Pain! Oh my! Couldn't lift my arms without my shoulders screaming at me. I figured maybe I could beat it all out of myself with another solid night of sleep.

Last night I contemplated another sleeping pill but didn't need it. I was fighting to stay awake at 9 p.m. and finally decided I could fight it in bed. No fight. Out cold in minutes. Woke briefly a couple of times, and finally decided at 8 a.m. it was time to get up. I probably could have stayed there all day, but if I've learned anything from Insomnia over the years, it's that she respond best to routine. Go to bed at the same time, get up at the same time.

I think some exercise will also help. Long days sitting at a desk in front of a computer don't help matters. So, shortly, I'll be off to the gym. Or maybe I'll just take a good, long walk. We'll see, but it will be one or the other, without fail.

If you see Insomnia, be rude. No matter how much she begs, don't even let her use the bathroom or the phone. She'll find a way to stay. She's just a rotten house guest. Doesn't even bring a hostess gift.
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Share your prayers

Here's a link to a Web site for a little girl who is fighting brain cancer. This came to me through my cousin Dan, who asks for prayers. I have some to share and hope you do too. Many thanks.

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It's not a lack of loyalty

I admit an affection for the hometown teams... the Celtics are making it fun to watch basketball in June and the Red Sox are hot (isn't that Mike Lowell a dream?). With the change of seasons I'll care about the Patriots. Sorry, I never got into soccer or hockey.

All that said, I've got half an eye on a new team and a new player this baseball season. Check this out!



That's Brad Penny, the Dodger's pitcher. He's not having the best season, and in fact is headed to the DL with shoulder troubles. And yes, I'm old enough to be his mother. Still, I just had to have this shirt. My treat to me. Besides, they're a National League team. It will only matter in the World Series finals.

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Amazing Grace

I respectfully invite you to visit a blog I read every day, Peacebang. She is a Unitarian Universalist pastor in the Boston area and--I don't know why--but I am just pulled to her. Some one of these Sundays I'm going to be sitting in her congregation and then, I expect, she'll never be rid of me.

Read the June 13 entry posted at 6:22 p.m., (third post down dated June 13) titled "Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant." It's a lengthy post and you must read every word. It's a powerful story of the death of a dear friend. It's a story of the way, I believe, every one us hopes we are loved. It's the way, I believe, every one of us hopes we will be thought of and cared for. It will, I think, claw at your heart and make you weep. I sobbed.

I've warned you. It's not a happy read but it's a very important one.

There isn't anything else to say.
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Thankful on Friday

Hey! It's the weekend and I have a short list of things for which I'm thankful.

• PJ is home from Florida, tanned and lovely. She had a rough plane ride home through thunder storms (I'd have walked). It's good to have her bouncing around the house again. No sooner is she settled in than she's off to puppy sit for the weekend for her friend Griswold, the English Bulldog.

• Dave had mega dental work done the other day and lived to tell the story. Tonight we celebrated the fact that he can eat big-people food again with steaks smothered in peppers and onions.

• Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of my first breast cancer surgery. My, my, time flies, doesn't it?? It's not necessarily a day to celebrate, or is it? I guess so. As I often say, it beats the crap out of the alternative. It's the first of a number of milestone days to come.

I've got some people on my personal prayer list (David and Claire, Ally and Matt, and Suzie's friend Susan). If you can, send them a cyber-hug and share some love. You don't have to know them, you only have to care.
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Who's having fun in this awful heat?

If you go back to some post I wrote in the middle of winter, you're sure to find words to the effect that some day when it was hot I'd be wishing for a cold snap. Well, that day is here. It's hot (high 90s) and I hate it.

I told Dave yesterday that these are the days that make me wish I was bald again, and of course he balked. I remember how cold I got without hair. I wonder if I'd be cooler without it. I wonder if I'd remember to put sun block on the top of my head.

And then there's the price of gas, sitting at pennies under $4 a gallon. I don't think it's put a true crimp in our habits just get, but the day is coming quickly. My mother has moved to the farm in Nobleboro, Maine, for the summer and of course I want to get into the car and drive up. But gas prices are making me think long and hard about it, and that makes me angry--to think that my life style and desires are being governed by oil prices. And when I get boiled up about it I get mad at myself for being selfish, when there are people without jobs, suffering without health insurance, and on and on. And then I get selfish again and WANT to feel sorry for myself about it. Silly, I know, but it's real.

We hired a marketing manager at work (I think I mentioned that earlier). She drives down every day from Rochester NH, and claims she hasn't looked at the mileage and isn't thinking about the additional costs. That's got to be a 70 or 80 miles trip one way... crazy distance.

The farm is about a 160 mile drive. Double that and drive around a bit and let's say a weekend trip is 400 miles. At 20 miles to the gallon (I have NO CLUE what my car gets), that's 20 gallons. At $4 a gallon it's an $80 trip.

Is a weekend at the farm worth $80? Honestly? Yes. Cheaper than going back to Switzerland. I'll have to take a Monday off and go. Soon.

PJ called us last night, she's in Ft. Lauderdale after having done a day and night in Miami Beach. I pointed her to the Delano Hotel, and apparently they not only found it but had themselves a party until the small hours of the morning. I wonder if it ever crossed her mind that her mother must be pretty damn cool to know of a place like that. Possible but probably not.

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I don't know where the time goes

Good God, it's Thursday already, and we're into June. No wonder I feel "old" some days. Time is flying!

Dave and I are empty-nesters with PJ off in Florida with her friends Sarah and Jackie. I hope she's mending her shoulder (in addition to enjoying the sun, sand, dancing, cocktails, and all the other things that Florida offers my Pretty Girl). We miss her.

I heard from my cousin Peter. He is in Chiang-Mai, Thailand, leading a group of students from the University of Hartford (where he is a professor) on a 3-week study adventure. Can't wait to see his photos and hear the details.

My mother moves north for the summer to farm in Nobleboro this weekend. Another thing to look forward to, making the 157 mile drive and turning onto Morang Cove Road for the first time this season. It takes my breath away every "first" time.

OK, off to work.
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It was a l-o-n-g week

Why is it that a three-day weekend makes the subsequent four-day work week feel like it's eight days long? I think I'll blame some of it on post-vacation hangover. Kinda like complaining about still being affected by jet lag. Use the excuse for as long as it will work!

So, let's see. What's new? Dave is suffering with a broken tooth and has another 11 days before he can see the dentist and (hopefully) have the problem rectified. In the mean time he's eating soft food and dealing with hunger pangs. He'll probably drop a couple of extra pounds (to go along with what we both hope are positive results of going to the gym a couple of times a week).

Yea, we all joined a gym--Planet Fitness in Wilmington. PJ strolled in the other night and found the tow of us on side-by-side treadmills, sweating our asses off (but not fast enough!) She said she was proud of the two of us, but commented that we need new workout clothes. Hey, I can't be fashionable AND sweaty at the same time!

Speaking of PJ, she gave us a scare Wednesday night. I answered the phone to hear she say, "I'm OK, Mom, really, I'm fine. I'm OK, really." To which I replied (very calmly, I think), "OK, then tell me why you called..." She had a mishap on her motorcycle, courtesy of the driver in front of her who elected to slow and then brake suddenly for a FAMILY OF CANADA GEESE crossing the road.

PJ also saw the geese, slowed as the driver in front of her did, but then didn't have a clear "out" when the other woman stopped. PJ tried to go around the car but the bike slid out from under her.

Talk about damn lucky... she separated her left shoulder, bruised a rib on the right, and has a couple of quarter-sized road rash burns on both knees and a skinned arm. She's sporting an arm sling for the next week-to-10 days and is a couple degrees shy of miserable (and bravely ignoring a prescription of Vicodin). My poor baby. She's headed to Florida on Tuesday with a girlfriend, to visit another girlfriend for eight days. I hope she uses the time to sit on her fanny with her arm in the sling and lets everyone else wait on her.

The bike needs a little cosmetic touch-up and a new part or two. Pretty good news all around. Bumps and bruises that will heal with time and patience.

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