November 22nd, 2006

Roar of the Crowd - Los Angeles
By Jim McCarthy

You're still here?

In the office, I mean. This is ditch-day-USA, people! Anybody still in the office after 1 or 2 should be assumed to have plans to Xerox their various body parts once everyone else leaves. If you don't want your co-workers mentally putting you in that creepy category, you better get your grocery list together and hit the streets!

But before you do, I want to call your attention to something other than either the prospect of that dude from accounts payable sitting on the copy machine or the long line at Honeybaked Ham for the 2 gallon Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes. Which are good.

Instead, I want to ask you to support an organization in Pasadena called Union Station, which plans to feed a few thousand homeless and impoverished people on Thursday. For the third year, Goldstar Events is working with Union Station to give its members an easy way to do something to support a great organization without leaving your desk.

Just go to our website and buy a full Thanksgiving dinner for a family of 5 for just $10. If you're so inclined, buy a whole lot of them. This is one of the very biggest Thanksgiving dinners in Southern California, so the help is really appreciated.

So before you shut down your email and web browser, take two more minutes to do a simple thing that's going to have a big impact on someone else's holiday!

Then leave. Your boss already snuck out five minutes ago.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Jim McCarthy
CEO, Goldstar Events

Sheesh, I haven't been here in awhile.  It's amazing how when you go to work, they actually expect you to work. LOL  It's been a busy week, but I'm so looking forward to the 4 day holiday.  Tomorrow, we are going to my mom's for a scrumptious turkey dinner.  On Friday, I need to take Lobo to the vet to get his stitch (stitches?) removed from his neutering operation.  We really have no other plans than to unpack our Christmas decorations!  I can't wait!!  Oh, and maybe we'll start making some cookies.

I wish you and yours a wonderful weekend!

This is from this past summer.  We went to visit my sister's friend and they have a cool little water park in their complex. 

Today is my mom's birthday (also my sister's, but we'll concentrate on my mom for now ), so I think she is the obvious choice for my Thankful Thursday.  She was a SAHM as long as I can remember -- raising 4 of us.  (I can't even imagine.)  I'm her eldest, so that means I'm her favorite, haha.  Just kidding, siblings!  She has an 8th grade education, but loved school and especially history.  She's a Texas gal, so one of her favorite sayings is: "Texas is bigger than the whole United States!"  Gotta love those Texans.  She quit school, because she had to go to work to help earn money for her family.  She has 9 brothers and sisters.  All, but one, are still with us.  She is super, super, super close to her sisters and they have actually rediscovered their bond again in the last 10 years.  These ladies are growing old gracefully together!  My mom instilled a love of education in us.  She didn't require us to do chores as long as our homework was done.  She never made judgements on our interests or hobbies.  Can you imagine she didn't bat an eye as I dragged my little brother and sister to stand in line for Star Wars on Hollywood Blvd?  She even had my dad drive us!  She was not one to be demonstrative with physical affection until we had grown up, but we always felt wanted and nourished.  While other kids couldn't wait to move out ot their parents' homes, I waited till I was 30 and my sisters are still there!  Today, she is 72 and still going strong.  She volunteers at her Church and takes my dad to his various appointments.  Mom, thank you!  I love you!!

http://isawyournanny.blogspot.com/

So what do you do when you want to do something against your principles?  Maybe I shouldn't post about Mel Gibson on an Aussie site, but he's at the crux of my latest dilemna.  I've had a problem with Mel for awhile.  He's supposed to be a Catholic who thinks Vatican II was too much change for the Church.  Ummm...whatever.  Then he did "Braveheart" that many activists said was anti-gay.  For that reason, I did not see the film.  Now, with his anti-Semetic tirade after an arrest, I have to label him a racist.  Now, the problem comes up with his new film, Apocalypto.  It's supposed to be a retelling of the collapse of the Mayan civiilization.  As a Latino-American, can you imagine how much I was looking forward to seeing this?  And now that I've heard so many good things about it, I would love to see it.  However, I believe I have to make a statement with my pocketbook.  I can't support someone who would defame a whole segment of our population.  Unfortunately, if this movie does not make any money, who or what will they blame?  Mel Gibson or the subject matter?  It could just give "Hollywood" another reason not to make different kinds of films.

I hope I don't step on too many toes here, but this is something that I've been thinking about.  Getting a new puppy has made us think about training, etc.  We picked up a book called, "Culture Clash" that goes against the whole "you have to dominate the dog" attitude.  None of that alpha dog stuff.  The author says dogs are dogs.  All they care about is food, playing, chewing, and humping.  We've, also, had recommendations for doing crate training, etc.  Well part of that is putting the dog to sleep in his crate and placing the crate in your room at night.  So far, Lobo has been doing beautifully.  Actually, he's "slept through the night" since day one.

That's all fine.  The controversial part is that someone on another forum asked about putting her 9 month old daughter to sleep.  Apparently, baby does not want to sleep in her crib through the night.  I'm glad to see there are alot of AP parents here, but that is not usually true IRL and, needless to day, not very common on this other forum.  Without being obnoxious, I just said that some parents sleep with their children and left it at that.

But I was thinking...we're supposed to get our kids to sleep by themselves in a different room, but it's recommended to have your dog sleep in your room.  What's wrong with this picture?

This is our new puppy, Lobo!  We got him at the shelter and he's about 4 months old now.  He is Chihuahua and Dachshund mix.  So far, he's been such a good boy and terribly sweet!  Rachel is just in love.  She has been asking for a dog for a year already.

Usually, I'm getting ready for Christmas back in September.  Most of my family's bdays are in September, October, and November, so it's easy to leave Christmas until December.  This year, however, I feel like I'm just coasting along.  For one thing, our family has decided to choose names and only get a gift for one person.  This only applies to the adults, but has made my life so much easier.  Now, I just need to get gifts for the in-laws.  I have decided what to get Rachel.  She has been asking for the Ariel makeup table.  I'm actually shocked, but if that's what she wants...I'm also going to get her the Mousetrap game.  I loved that when I was a kid.  And I will get her the book, "Charlotte's Web".  It's coming out as a movie this Christmas, but Rachel actually likes pigs and that was one of my most favorite books when I was young.  I'm going to try hard to resist buying more for her.  With all of our relatives, she really gets too much at Christmas.

The old one was fine, but we didn't have the repoire that my new one and I have.  Her name is Shelley and we actually hired in on the same day.  They stuck us in this tiny office for 3 weeks.  They then moved me to a wonderful window office.  I get to check out the Port of Los Angeles and wish I were on one of those cruise ships!  Anyways, when I moved over here, we asked if Shelley could move, too.  But, no.  A new person was being hired and he was slated for my office.  Fine.  Until last week.  My old officemate's (Greg) boss came in to tell him that they will move him into his own office ASAP.  He is a system admin and he needs room to build computers and store equipment.  Alas, there were no offices to be had at this time.  Well, I had the brilliant idea to have him and Shelley switch!  So I guess it got the go-ahead from the higher-ups and she's here!  We have a good time chatting, but we also respect our work time.  She actually only lives a couple of blocks from me, too.  It's fun to trade info about resources, etc., in our neighborhood.  Oh, and she works part-time, so it's actually like I have my own office.