nonstick weblog

I was listening to NPR this morning (about the only thing I miss about commuting to work) and they were talking about this internet site that is being used as an education tool and a means to bring awareness to hunger.

You pick the from a list of four words the synonym for the word displayed. For every word you get right, 20 grains of rice will be donated through the UN for hunger relief. Doesn’t seem like a lot, but they have donated about 9B grains since inception.

I got to level 41. BTW – Procelyte means convert, not smell.

Check it out. You better the world and yourself. Well, your vocabulary, anyway.

http://freerice.com

Per tradition, our team went out last night as it was the last day of our team meeting. My boss loves the Old Pro in Palo Alto, so we always start there and end up at Rudy’s when the Old Pro shuts down. Last night we went to Rudy’s earlier than usual as we wanted to dance.

At Rudy’s, I made friends with these girls so that we could use the back of their chairs as coat racks. They asked me what school I went to. School? I have not been in school in eons. Turns out these girls were 25. Young, just like the rest of the people there. Felt kinda old amongst all these college kids. Which brings me to the question, can you be a cougar at 33? Not that I am one, just wanted to know.

The guys I was with thought it was so weird that after knowing each other for 5 seconds, me and these girls would have already exchanged info about what school we attend and how old we were. I suppose it could be, but girls just share. Especially when they don’t feel threatened.

So, I spent the evening pretending to be young and single. Good thing I am neither. I don’t think I can regularly wake up to aching feet and a headache.

I just set up my Twitter account per Skrocki’s suggestion. Now I need to figure out how this thing works.

P.S. Good idea on providing twitter id: nonstick. Thx, Skrocki.

I was at Target last weekend. ‘Nuff said.

I am on a business trip in Dallas this week. I am beginning to get used to the toll parkway thing. My first time through, I expected a person collecting toll. Unfortunately, I was on the exact change lane, overshot the bucket and could not back up.

My second time through, I was ready. I had a dollar bill in hand. Dammit. It says coins only. I threw my dollar bill in and it made it, but it did not register.

Now I carry a bunch of coins in the cup holder of my rental car. I still have to slow down to toss the coins, to the dismay of the drivers behind me, but I am not setting off the red light and buzzer anymore.

I drop a lot of money at BR, the Gap, and Old Navy and wanted to take advantage of the free alterations that comes with a Luxe membership. I called to check to see how far I was from the $800 threshold. Hmm. Doesn’t sound right. So I speak to a rep. She tells me that only purchases at BR count. But I was on the website and it said purchases across all the Gap businesses. So I told her so. She tells me that it’s only for the BR Visa, but the website says for both Visa and BR card.

I then ask for a supervisor because I was annoyed. The supervisor validated the policy per the website, but the qualifying purchases were still at $250. I know that is not true. I use Quicken to track my expenses, so I can say exactly how much I spent, where and when and it is more like $500.

Now here is where you will see my personality and my family’s bain. I had made about $700 worth of purchases in the last 2 weeks that they have not counted yet. That would put me over the $800 threshold even with their inaccurate $250, but I could not let go the BR’s inaccurate accounting. I argued with them and finally, they agreed to send my account to be reviewed by the Luxe manager. I am such a pain. When I am right, I need people to acknowledge I am right. My husband finds it endearing. Not.

I was driving home with my kid yesterday and noticed that the two kids in the car behind me did not have seat belts on. The little girl in the back could not have been more than 6. The little boy in the front was about 8. Both of them were bouncing around in the car while we waited for the light to turn green. I really wanted to get out of the car and yell at the mom. I should have had my 3 year old tell them the importance of seat belts and helmuts.

According to BusinessWeek, Mattel is recalling toys made in China because they were coated in lead paint. Egad! My kid has been chewing on Elmo and Dora since birth. This might explain her bad behavior of late.

I just had to fire my cleaning lady. Or she fired me, I can’t tell. She charges me $80 per visit every two weeks. Last week, she wanted to bump it to $100. What! A 25% increase? Well, I thought about it and it doesn’t work for me.

I talked to her husband today to understand the situation and figure if there was a way to work it out. He kept telling me about the cost of materials and gas and stuff. But a 25% increase is too high. So I said that we should just agree to separate.

He kept telling me to do what was best for me. That he needed to do what was best for him and his family. He kept apologizing that things had to be this way.

All I wanted was to confirm that it was over. That the last time she came to clean was the last time.

Egad! It was like breaking up with someone.

I just got an Alumni membership to Berkeley. Class of ’98. Within days, I received a request from Berkeley Engineering for a donation. Up until then, the last known address was my parents’. Seems their systems are all in sync.