…by the tire repair place.  The (*&*(& rim didnt’ come in, so our car will sit there yet another day.

You know, the days where one (or both if necessary) of us could take public transportation to work were very convenient.  This is just annoying.  Jonathan has to leave work, come get Madeline and I so I can take him to his 5:30 appointment and go pick up Claire from my parents house (they went and got her at preschool).  Then we’ll eat, then go pick up Jonathan from his appointment.  Then take the girls home.

Aaargh.

This is getting more expensive by the hour.

The darn tire itself is $125. Turns out the rim is bent to the point where the new tire won’t seal on it. Grr. That’s another $200. And we won’t have a car until tomorrow.

I’m starting to hate winter.

I have fond memories of sick days as a child. Spending the day on the couch with a blankie and pillow, watching The Price is Right and watching my mom iron. It was the best way to spend a day.

Now as a parent, I have to admit, I loathe sick days. Well, I don’t mind them so much if I’m the sick one, but when it’s one of the kids, the day is never as idyllic as my memories. For example, today Claire is home with the Croup. We nearly panicked last night and paged the doctor out when the barking seal appeared out of Claire’s room. A little steam and a little humidifier later she was soundly sleeping. Paranoid mom that I am, I slept in her room, getting up every 2 hours so that I could make sure she got her medicine. In between her seal bark and Madeline’s demanding cry from then next room I got approximately 49 minutes of sleep. Ok more like 3 hours, but still not enough.

Today I figured, hey Claire is sick, she’ll want to sleep. I’ll be able to get work done and be productive. Yeah, not so much. I think whatever virus is lodged in her vocal chords has invaded me. I feel feverish and congested. Claire on the other hand is now doing pretty well — her fever is finally down a bit and she’s eaten a few small things. And she keeps demanding The Backyardigans. If you’ve never seen The Backyardigans, you’ve lived a charmed life. A show that I thought was so cute when I first saw it has turned into the most obnoxious thing in the world. Maybe it’s because she wants to watch it CONSTANTLY and we only have 3 episodes on the DVR. Maybe its because my tolerance for annoying kids shows is less than zero right now. Whatever the reason….I want it to stop. I want those adorable cartoon animals to run away and never come back.

I think I need my own sick day. LOL.

Please just pray Madeline does not get sick too….

Our home is descended into some sort of madness. Anne has found a hobby - which I have been encouraging her to do for…I don’t know…5 years now. Of course, now that she has it, I rue the day (who says that?) that I ever said “yes” to the insanity that is knitting.

Not that I don’t appreciate the cool little pants, hats, IPod holders, scarves, etc., that Anne turns out with regularity. What gets me are the books, cabinets (yes, cabinets) of yarn, the little pieces of yarn lying here and there, the constant net surfing for new patterns, the yarn dyeing and drying (the pantyhose in the shower are better than skeins of yarn lying here and there and everywhere in multiple, though beautiful, kool-aid colors), my feet serving as a swift (see here), and the constant discussion.

But, she loves it, and so I encourage her. I must be losing it…

Here they are, the first ever, annual, never to be repeated, Watson’s Predictions for 2008.

(The male, father-version of the Watsons, that is…)

1. Hillary will be nominated for President. She’ll win…but nobody will be able to remember voting for her.

2. I will move to India and become a goatherder. Although India will be equally repressive of freedom, their repression can be bribed away and their food is better.

3. America will enter a new age of tyranny, as the President seeks to override her constitutional limitations on power in an attempt to make good on massive campaign promises (or “his” if my first prediction is wrong) (see our last 5 presidents) by making laws as well as executing them. Congress will continue to pass useless laws and let the President do whatever he / she wants in the form of executive orders and military intervention

4. The tyranny will be unrecognized for the most part, as people will be getting the benefits of massive wealth transfers from rich to the rest of society, and young to old, especially in the form of socialized medicine. Any urge left to be gainfully employed and live an otherwise moral life will be massively undercut as people realize that the government really will compensate for massive moral laxity in the form of free medicine and health care.

5. Eventually, we will end up like Rome, where the Caesar ran everything, the Senate was a useless body under the indirect control of the caesars, the populace was incredibly degenerate (see here and here) and expected bread, health, and entertainment from the government.

Am I too pessimistic…or not pessimistic enough….?

Now I want the FLIP too. I didn’t know what you were talking about yesterday when you called me so I googled it.

Crap.

Thought I’d admonish you publicly

(adding it to my Amazon wish list for next year)

<rant>

I apologize in advance.

Last week I called a vendor asking for some pricing on a product that we don’t normally sell.  We are working on a project not related to this product and the lead of the project asked for this quote.  Our rep told him that we don’t normally sell that product and we can provide the quote however we can’t promise engineering services — and that we have a similar product with similar features that we could provide full support for, and would he like a quote on that.    Well the vendor basically told me that he wouldn’t give me the opportunity because we had “dropped the ball” on a couple other opportunities that they had handed us.  Ok fine whatever.

Today I was supposed to meet with the vendor.  He called me at the time we were supposed to meet and asked to do a web conference, which was fine.  He then proceeded to sort of call me out on this opportunity mentioned above and said that he specially referred this customer to us and we came back with a different product and blah blha blah blah blah.  Let’s just say he was just a bit pissed.

For the record, mr vendor:

1.  Your product sucks and you know it.

2.   You know it was an honest mistake - we didn’t know the guy you had call us was a big wig at an important customer of yours and that he was doing a favor for this small project on his personal time and that our pitching our own solution would damage your relationship with him in any way. (Which, I’m sure, it did not by the way).

3.  Don’t mess with me today.

Oye.  I hate it when I”m all emotional and stuff like this happens.  Normally I’m a really happy go lucky, let it roll off my back person but at certain times you REALLLY don’t want to mess with me.  I become this mad, tearful creature that scares the crap out of all the men in her office.  (I think Bob is still afraid to talk to me :-D  — no worries dude ( if you read this of course) )

The gem of this whole conversation was me saying this to him:

“Mr. Vendor, seriously, we’re not trying to jack you around here and I would appreciate it if you could cut out the hostility.  It was a mistake on our part, only because we were not informed, and you know it.”

For the first time in my life I wanted to hang up on someone….and I almost did.

I think I know what will make me feel better…..Chocolate.

</rant>