My Recession Changes

Ever since my promotion in March, I have become a Starbucks re-addict. Addict status means that they are required for daily operation, not just enjoyed on an ad hoc basis. (can you tell I'm an IT geek by that sentence?!)

The "worst" parts about Starbucks are that the cafe in our building is literally 1 minute away from my office AND the cost is auto-deducted from payroll, so it's pretty much like they're free ;) Except... they're not. At my current pace I would be spending $910/year on lattes, which I have decided I am not ok with.

I found a Mr. Coffee espresso maker for $34. My big plan was to go without Starbucks for 2 weeks to "save" up for Mr. Coffee and then transfer. I decided Monday that there was no way I would be Starbucks-free for 2 weeks, so I may as well just buy it and start saving.

The online reviews were pretty favorable (I mean, I'm realistic, it's a $35 espresso maker). The biggest issue noted was that the milk steamer/frother was weak on frothing. I won't give you the full play-by-play, but suffice to say that the frother was very thorough on its frothing... I had a huge froth bubble going on :)

Your Post Office May Be Closing... Do You Care?

MSN.com has been hitting home on the impending shutdown of 3,200 post offices around the US. Additionally, the USPS has initiated the idea of cutting mail delivery from 6 days/week to 5. Another thing I have noticed recently is that our "post man" does not drive a mail truck... he drives his own car with a USPS sticker on it.

The USPS has been operating at a loss for the past several years. Of course, they blame the internet, electronic billpay, e-cards, etc for their declining revenue. That makes sense to me... though it's hard for me to be irritated by that, since I love those things... and I hate the junk mail that fills my mailbox, fills my recycling bin, fills the landfills. My mom had a great idea a long time ago - they should triple the bulk mail rate and either force the junk mail producers to pay up or stop sending the crap out. Anyhoo, that's probably a whole other topic.

So... my question is... do you care? What does mail mean to you? The funniest part is that there are only 2 reasons I go to the mailbox - Netflix and for holiday/bday cards. Aside from those 2 events, I would happily live without a mailbox.

I ♥ Google

Saw this announcement on www.pcmag.com today:

Google Voice gives you one phone number that you give out to everyone, which rings all of your phones at once when called. It also includes voicemail services, transcriptions of those messages, outbound calls, recording of inbound calls, and SMS text messaging to anyone in your Google Contacts list with a cell phone.

I had to go do some more research on this, mainly to find out the cost and how to sign up. It's free! Seriously, how amazing is Google? They're not signing people up quite yet, but I requested to be added to the invite list.

Next Wellness Challenge

Wow... twice in one month that I get to mention the corporate wellness program. I'm excited because I realized today that I have already hit the marker for $120 credit on my benefits next year. woowoo

The next set of options for points are the following:

• Get at least 15 minutes of daily physical activity
• Get at least 7 hours of sleep
• Take at least 10 minutes of relaxation/meditation
• Consume no more than 2 cups of caffeinated beverages per day

I will only be attempting 3 out of the 4. It kind of reminds me of that old Sesame Street song "3 of these things belong together..." 3 of these things make me happy, 1 makes me unhappy. Can you guess which one? ;)

Trip Recap - Day 13

We have now reached the last day of touring on our Incredible Journey. It was very bittersweet... I felt like total crap and was just trying my hardest to pull myself up by the bootstraps and complete it. But on the other hand, it was such a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I did not want it to end.

We had done a bit of schedule modifying to Day 13. The original plan was to leave the hotel at 8:30ish and hit Westminster Abbey when it opened at 9:15. From there we would go to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. After lunch, we would go to St. Paul's cathedral. Most of the afternoon would be spend at the British Museum, and our day would end with dad, Chris, and me going to the theater.

8:30 sounded like a pretty crappy start time to those of us who were sick. In the original itinerary, Westminster and St. Paul were option 1 and 2 for people to select which they wanted to see. On Day 11 I had excitedly suggested cramming them all in, just because we could.

So... start time became 10:30ish and we just headed over to Buckingham Palace. The changing of the guard (pic 1) was pretty cool, though we were left with the question of "they only do this once/day... do the guards stand there for 24 hours? or is there some other guard changing done with less procession?" Ah, well. We saw the full processions where they march out with horses and bands down the mall, around the St. Victoria memorial fountain (pic 2), and through the gates. Then, they do some James Bond routine inside the gates. The other exciting thing that happened while we were waiting for the guards to change was that Faith made this incredibly coordinated movement that popped Christine's camera off the top of the stroller and into the fountain. Luckily David was quickly spurred into action, and the camera (inside its case) was spared.

After Buckingham, my mom, Chris, and I headed over to St. Paul's (pic 3) while Christine, David, Faith, and dad headed to Westminster. I requested they take pics of Westminster for me, and I would take pics at St. Paul's for them. We later found that both had "no photo" policies... only 1 group abided by this.

On our walk to St. Paul's, we stopped at Starbucks for lattes/lunch. Just thought I would throw that in. I think our official Starbucks visiting count on the trip was 3... Germany, Paris, London.

St. Paul's was really neat. We saw where the big procession for Princess Diana/Prince Charles' wedding was, we saw this amazing World War 2 memorial to the American troops that is inside, and we saw the mausoleums of Lord Nelson (pic 4) and the Duke of Wellington. Another notable event that occurred at St. Paul's was that my family went to a Thanksgiving service there when we lived in England.

After St. Paul's, we headed off to the British Museum to meet up with the other group (at the Rosetta Stone, specifically). I always loved the British Museum when we were there, so it was really fun to go back. We saw the Rosetta Stone (pic 5), as much of the Parthenon (pic 6) as the British could pilfer from Greece, and a bunch of mummies (pic 7).

We then headed back to the hotel to relax for a short bit before heading off to the evening festivities. My dad, Chris, and I took the underground to Piccadilly Circus to dine at TGI Friday's (pic 8) before heading off to Les Miserables. The TGIF experience was great... they are slightly behind in menu modifications, so I was able to get my fave sandwich that they have discontinued in the states.

After our delicious dinner, we walked over to the theater to catch the show. We were briefly interrupted by a protest parade of bicyclist that were riding through the street. There were quite a few that were naked except for some paint (pic 9). I can't imagine that riding a bike naked would be comfortable, but I have never tried it, so I won't judge. Their protest signs read "Trains not planes," and I have not a clue what that meant. Most of the spectators of the parade were irritated people who were just trying to cross the street. However, the guy standing next to me was totally into it. Had he not been so stoned, I'm sure he would have been chanting.

And then, the show started. It was fantastic. I saw Les Mis (pic 10) in London back in 1992, but Chris picked it as the one he wanted to see. It was definitely just as good the second time around. We all had a fantastic time, and it was a great way to end our tour (pic 11)

Seriously?!

Is this an appropriate picture title? I mean, even for Paris Hilton, this is kinda low ;)

Trip Recap - Day 12

Wow... only 1 more trip recap post after this one! Whatever will I blog about?! I think once I finish the series, I am going to repost them all back to the day that they talk about. I'm mulling that one over...

We let our Ripper tour guide know that we would beginning the next day (Day 12) at the Tower of London. He told us to make sure to ask for him, so we did. He said "hi" to us, but that was about it ;) But we were off to tour the Tower. It was another one that was high on Chris' "must-see" list, and I had some fond memories of it from previous trips. Unfortunately, we both felt it was quite the letdown. We did see the crown jewels, which were amazing. But, the big draw for Chris was the torture stuff, and there was almost nothing there. We decided that they must be trying to put a kinder, gentler spin on the Tower ;) What was there was all in one very tiny room. When we got to that room, there was a rogue tour guide leading a tour in a different language, and they took up the entire room. We were all the way in the back, and in the dim light I could barely even read about any of the stuff.

After our Tower Tour, the group split. Christine, David, Faith, and my mom were going to see the Lion King. Chris, my dad, and I were off to the Churchill war rooms. I should also mention here that while Faith appeared to be completely over her fever/sickness, the rest of the under-30 crowd was just getting it. Christine had quite a bit of congestion, I was way feverish, and my brother was starting to have a bad cough. However, we were all committed to making it through the final 2 days, so we trucked through.

On our way to the War Rooms, we swung by Big Ben. Our "problem" was that we were so close to it, it was hard to get pictures! All the pics I was taking of Chris, it is his head + giant clock in the background.

The War Rooms were very cool. It's basically the underground complex that was built to house the key leaders in England during WW2. They had all their strategy sessions there, and it's all setup just as it was back then (see pic of Chris with mannequin guard). However, I was feeling like total crap, so walking around the full museum part was a little more than I could handle :(

On our way back to the hotel, we swung by 10 Downing Street... well, as close to #10 as you can actually get these days. Chris had to get more pics with guards ;) We also swung by Harrod's to pick up some kind of bread from their bakery from my mom and gelato for the rest of us. My brother had told me from the day before that the Cookie-flavored gelato was awesome, so I had to try it. It was sooooooooooo good... basically chocolate gelato with like chocolate-chip cookies mixed in. I'll let him correct me on that, if needed... all of our taste buds were kinda suffering due to our sickness. The funniest part is that you either order the gelato while sitting at the counter, or if there are no seats at the counter you have to take it outside. It was completely packed, so we got to stand around in the back alley, eating our gelato.

We swung through Hyde Park, and then headed back to the hotel to get a brief break and get ready for dinner. Once back at the hotel, we were very confused to hear my mom's voice coming from my parents' room... they were supposed to be at the Lion King. Probably the most major snag we hit on the trip... the theater did not allow children under 3 in. Not cool! It worked out for Faith, though, because they visited the Disney store where she got a tiny suitcase and a ballerina Minnie.

Dinner that night was at Boxwood Cafe, a Gordon Ramsay restaurant. This was one of Chris' requirements for London... visiting a Gordon Ramsay restaurant. He had like 5 restaurants all within 1-2 miles of our hotel. Boxwood seemed like a good fit because it was slightly more casual, though still super high-class food. I think you can tell from the picture just how perky/good I was feeling, but dinner was still awesome. I got the asparagus/lobster soup and the chicken risotto. Mmmmm.... one of my fave dining experiences from the trip.

My SIL's Hilarious Post

I am totally cracking up at the post that my SIL (not Ine/Martin Blessings, but Chris' sister LisaPie) just put up.

Cranky Crackpot Neighbor

Trip Recap - Day 11

Our itinerary for the morning was to head to "downtown" Maidenhead where my mom, brother, and I used to spend quite a bit of time when we lived there. When we were living there in 1992, our typical day was something like this:

• Wake-up
• Breakfast
• Home schooling (about 3 hours max)

After the morning schedule, we would often walk down to the bus stop and head into town for lunch and shopping. We wanted to do a quick reminiscing tour and then head off to London.

Day 11 could be called the "Sick Day." Faith was way feverish, and she was taking Christine down with her. They stayed at the hotel to get some more rest while we headed to downtown.

Downtown Maidenhead had made some changes, which we all agreed were for the better. When we lived there, pretty much the only fast food was McD's. They have since added several Subways and a BK. We chuckled at the "Texican" whopper (pic 1) at BK because it is my assumption that we were some of the few Texans ever to live in quaint Maidenhead, so I had to give us credit for inspiring it ;)

We also had to laugh at this advertisement (pic 2) for Vegas. I just don't get it.

The funniest part was when we were trying to get a picture outside WH Smith (bookstore in the mall). It was notable because (1) there were many books purchased there and (2) that was where all our pictures got developed. Chris had run off to a sporting goods store to buy some more English soccer attire, so we stuck my dad with the job of snapping a quick pic of mom, David, and me in front of the store. I don't think it's too common to take pictures outside of stores in the mall, and some of our tour members were a bit uncomfortable at the spectacle we were making. It did not help that my dad took forever to snap the pics, and then in each case he missed out on getting the entire sign in the pic. This is my favorite one (pic 3)... I snapped it just to get the full sign in, so I could have a Photoshop expert add it into one of the other pics that actually had us all posed in it. You can probably tell from the facial expressions how well the photo shoot was going ;)

After the trip downtown, we loaded up the cars and headed to London. At this point, Chris was starting to not feel so hot. He did manage to make it through lunch at Hard Rock (pic 4) and a trip through their souvenir store before going down ;) Our afternoon itinerary was to go to Hyde Park, Harrod's, and then the Jack the Ripper tour. I told him that we could stay back from Hyde Park and Harrod's because we would have time the next day. I encouraged him to get better asap, so we could go on the Ripper tour. Being the good husband that he is, he obliged.

The Ripper tour was interesting. Our guide (pic 5 - guy with satchel in front of the "33" sign) was fantastic... he was a Beefeater by day at the Tower of London and did the Ripper tours at night. Not sure when he was ever at home, but his wife was a police officer, so I imagine they have a strange schedule. He was really knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and we traipsed all over the White Chapel (pic 6) district. Chris was very happy that I dragged him along ;)

Trip Recap - Day 10

Day 10 was slightly chaotic. I think it might have been the first real day that there was some trip fatigue going on, especially by our little tour member. Her expression in this picture (pic 1) just cracks me up... especially since Chris is holding her, and I can blame her mood on him :)

My dad and brother left our hotel in Portsmouth (England) quite early to go pick up the rent cars. England was the first opportunity to not only get to navigate roundabouts but also to drive on the "wrong" side of both the car and the road. Chris decided to ride with my brother, SIL, and Faith. I'm not sure if it was terror over my navigation craziness, my dad's driving, my mom's complaining about my dad's driving, or the lingering effects of our minor issues getting to Dachau that caused this.

Our first stop was Stonehenge (pic 2, duh, lol). This was high on Chris' "must-see" list, and I think we all had a great time there. We managed to get coffee/lattes and breakfast before heading over, so that was a good mood-improver :) The one new thing I learned on this trip to Stonehenge is that there are a lot of beetles hopping/flying around there, and they get ALL OVER you. ick.

After Stonehenge, we hopped back in the car for the hour+ drive to Windsor for our tour of The Castle. Chris again rode in the other car, but I think I can say that the overall driving was perfectly fine. The only issue in the cars apparently was that Faith was ready for lunch (and probably really tired of being in cars/boats/trains at this point). We quickly found a pub for lunch and got down to some traditional English grub - bangers & mash (pic 3), fish & chips. It was also kinda refreshing to have a server that spoke understandable English :)

Once our bellies were full, we did the Windsor Castle (pic 4) tour... very cool, very large, very ornate. Nothing too much to note about the tour, other than Chris took the opportunity to take pictures with guards (pic 5) and we did not see The Queen.

From Windsor, we journeyed to Maidenhead. This was the town that my family lived in during the later half of 1992. It was definitely one of the coolest experiences in my life, and totally fun, too. That night we had a reminiscing tour planned. First stop was dinner at The Harvester, which my family ate often when we lived there. As I said, the mood overall that day was slightly less than perky, and dinner was not a highlight. The parking lot was ridiculously small, the entryway to it only really one lane wide despite being two ways. I convinced my dad to drop me off to get a table because I did not want to be in the car as he and my mom discussed how best to park ;) When I spoke with the hostess, I was basically told there was no way they could seat us without reservations. She advised me to check with the outside hostess, but that there would still be a wait out there.

Luckily, no wait for outside. Unluckily Faith didn't have her jacket with her, and it was pretty cool with the breeze coming at us off the water. Christine draped her jacket over Faith, but Christine was sleeveless so that wasn't so comfortable. Also, The Harvester had completely overhauled everything, and we didn't really get what we were hoping for. I do love this pic (6) of Faith perusing the mean thoughtfully, tho ;)

After dinner, we did the quick tour of our old neighborhood. We had much debate when we arrived at our old house (pic 7). Some of our group didn't want to loiter/park/take pics in front of someone else's house. Some in our group were hoping the owners of the house would be curious about the goings-on and invite us in after hearing our story ;) That did not happen, but we did loiter around for a bit and get some pictures. Unfortunately, this is the only one I took with my camera. We did get a family pic in front of our old house, but it's on my mom's camera, I beleive. In a future Flashback post, I will post the pics from back in 1992. They're fun to compare.

From our old house, we went down to Boulter's Lock (pic 8), which is right at the end of our old neighborhood. There is a cute park there, and we used to hang out there quite a bit. Faith and Christine stayed in the car for this jaunt, as Faith was feeling feverish. It was getting colder and darker, but the rest of us navigated our way around the lock, the park, to the weir (pic 9), and back by the statue of the woman with the swan (pic 10). No idea why I remembered this from 17 years ago, but it was still there :)

The Purse Post

I was perusing People.com today (you know, working hard), and I came across this pic of Leann Rimes. She is rocking the purse-less look almost the same way that I do. The only improvement suggestion I could offer her would be to lose the key ring. My next car will have keyless entry (Kim is my Champ), but I at least only carry around my car key and not every key I own.

If I were to give her other improvement suggestions, I might tell her that the dress is not going to earn her any ROD awards and that she has on a bit too much eye make-up.

Trip Recap - Day 9

I am losing steam on my trip recap posts due to lack of comments :( Luckily, there are only 4 more to go after this one. I am hoping that the Queen Mary and 22 references in this post will reinvigorate the readers.

Day 9 was pretty incredible. We woke up in our lovely chateau room and had to have all of our bags packed and downstairs by 8am. whew. We were meeting up with a tour guide who would show us around Normandy... German bunkers (pic 1), Pointe du Hoc, Omaha beach, the American cemetery (pic 2). Basically, a tour of the WW2 D-Day invasion. There were a couple of things that were just incredible to me:

• The Germans had an incredible advantage over the allied troops because they were up on cliffs while we were coming in on the beach. I had no idea of that until I was standing there.
• The memorial statue (pic 3) at the cemetery is 22 feet tall
• On the back of the cross grave markers in the cemetery is the soldiers dog tag number (hopefully the photo-pic 4-blows up, the first one I saw started with 322... aka my bday)
• Despite the 9,000+ graves at the cemetery, only about 60% of the soldiers who died are buried here... the rest having been sent home for burial
• When relatives visit the cemetery, they will often rub sand from the beach onto the etching on the cross... it makes the writing look gold. The two in the picture (5) are two of the Niland brothers... aka those from Saving Private Ryan
• Normandy reminded me of San Fran - it was foggy and cooooooold!

Once our tour was over, we headed to the train station for a quick trip to Cherbourg. There we hit the ferry station, where we would be taking a ferry to jolly ol' England.

We had a bit of time to wait at the ferry station, so Faith and I were running around the waiting area. Throughout the waiting area there were some signs showing things about Cherbourg, WW2, etc. I nearly fell over when I saw the feature on the Queen Mary(pic 6)! How cool is that?

The ferry ride over was pretty nice. Chris took some dramamine as a precaution, and did fine (beers and all).

Happy 2nd Birthday, Faith!

Wow, I can't believe I've been blogging since before she was born! You can track her birth here and her first birthday here.

Today is her 2nd birthday (obviously, this would come consecutively after her 1st ;) For a recap on how busy her mama is this week, you can see their schedule here.

Our involvement in the birthday celebration is:

• Last Saturday we had a practice round with their new grill... aka dinner and fun at their house
• Tonight we have a family dinner + present-opening afterwards
• Saturday is her big birthday party. Chris will be assisting in some of the food preparation, and I will be assisting in the fun!

Some of My Friends Are Good Mailers

I have owed Paula a post FOREVER. She sent me a fabulous gift a few months back... a 2009 Chuck Norris calendar! You know you all are super-jealous of this. I am the definitive source for all questions Chuck Norris-related, and I appreciate the support that the HCBC gives me on this :)

Yesterday I received a package from The Champ. I need to add in here that I have never received as much fun stuff in the mail as I have since joining the HCBC. You'll remember that I also received a fun package from Andrea Braun this year. It makes me realize that I need to step up my mailing goals from birthday cards to other fun things ;)

So... I brought the package inside, and Chris was all, "what is that?" I told him it was my birthday present from Kim. This led him to be confused over how I was getting a birthday present in June... but, hey, I was getting a present, so all was great in my world :)

Kim sent me some framed photos of the Queen on the Queen :) They are now proudly displayed on my desk, right next to my Associate of the Month award and my Site Managers Recognition of Contribution award.

Threatening Biotches

I wanted to do a post in support of my Facebook status that "Sara is threatening people" coupled with my subsequent photo of Scary Sara. "Why would sweet Sara be threatening people?" you are probably wondering. Well, when it comes to my husband, I am slightly overprotective. LOL. Those of you who know him might think it's funny that I protect him, but some of you will know that beyond his physicality he is the most kind-hearted person ever.... and therefore tends to get screwed over.

Anyways... approximately 19 months ago I engaged the company OmniTrace to do a search for his birth parents. It was his Christmas present for 2007. Unfortunately it came with a lot of paperwork that took us until April 2008 to finish up and get sent in. That is when they consider that the search started, even though they had no problem charging my credit card back in November 2007. Yes, I had done some research and had seen some negative feedback on them, but I also saw positive feedback. It was a gamble, but they were the most notable firm that does this kind of work.

Key point... the search isn't exactly cheap, so of course I wanted some kind of guarantee, or at least realistic expectation. I asked if they had a refund policy if no information was found. The answer I got from the agent was, "we ALWAYS find at least one member of the birth family." I asked again, got the same answer, and asked a third time because I was irritated by the bs answer. I got the same answer.

Cut to today... got a letter from OmniTrace on Saturday that despite their best efforts they have been unable to locate ANY information about his birth family and are therefore closing his case. This was really irritating on many levels, so I immediately emailed the agent who had been in charge of correspondence with me and asked why my refund check was not included. She was confused on why I thought there was a refund policy, and I told her of my conversation regarding that when initially signing up. She then pointed out that I had signed off on disclosures that they do not have a refund policy and do not guarantee finding people. blech. I, of course, responded that I would be engaging the attorney generals in Texas and Florida, since I was LIED TO by her company ;)

Current resolution is that they're going to work the case for another year free of charge. Not that they really did anything this past year. I have requested that they at least file a petition with the court to unseal his original records, since that seems to be a basic first step to this whole process. whatever... sorry to get too technical into the search process, but I'm a bit irritated ;) thanks for letting me vent.

Trip Recap - Day 8

Day 8 was pretty light on the sightseeing, and thanks taxis much easier on our feet :) Our first and only stop in Paris was to the Louvre. I can see I need to write a lot about it, so I can include all the amazing pictures. Obviously Chris was really excited to see the Mona Lisa. In talks of going to the Louvre, this was all he really talked about. Well, that and the pyramid outside. It turned out that he was much more familiar with the Louvre than he realized, thanks to (1) the Da Vinci Code movie and (2) the Da Vinci Code video game. In fact, while I was the official navigator of our journey through the museum, Chris was the one who piped up to say, "there's a door in the wall behind the Mona Lisa," to help get us out of the madness. He knew this from the video game ;)

So, in summary, at the Louvre we saw the Mona Lisa (pic 2), Venus de Milo (pic 3), Cupid & Psyche sculpture (pic 4), Michelangelo's Dying Slave sculpture (pic 5), the Code of Hammurabi, Ramses II sarcophagus.

After the Louvre, we went back to the hotel to gather our belongings in preparation for our next train ride. This one was from Paris to Bayeux. Highlights of the train ride were that I got some Starbucks while waiting for the train. Lowlights were that it took them FOREVER to post what track our train would be departing from and that there were semi-assigned seats on the train that we were not prepared for.

In Bayeux, we stayed at the Chateau de Sully. This was another recommendation courtesy of my MIL and her bf. The rooms were totally cute, and the grounds were just gorgeous. It's a place you could go for a week and just have downtime. The grounds were sprawling, and you could do picnics outside. But... we were only staying for one short night. The must-do was to dine in their restaurant, which was fantastic. Dinner lasted probably 3 hours and included 5ish courses. Mmmmmm....