Not knowing what's going to happen

I think the pause in the blog is indicative of something. Two of the bloggers are pregnant and two of us are not (as far as I know). For the two who are, not only are they pregnant, they have existing children to care for, marriages to maintain, houses to run and jobs to do. Maybe in that order? For the two of us that aren't pregnant, thinking about when to get pregnant, what to do for work, how to plan it properly by money considerations, travel, work, etc. it's all very mind boggling yet so big it's actually out of our control.

This blog is a public thing and probably too open of a forum to talk about these issues here in any great detail. Our colleagues, friends and strangers read it and take away some sort of perception about who we are or what we mean. I for one know that most of what I've been thinking about lately has not exactly been good advice - how can I give any when I feel rather adrift?

Anyway, just wanted to check in. Register that life is in flux and it's as it should be. this is right for our age but bad for the blog. If any bright good-advice ideas come to me, i will be sure to post.

A couple things for those who work and produce documents: don't email a document that's not formatted to print. always number your slides in powerpoint. be sure your font is consistent through out your whole document and save each version of your excel docs with a date or version number so you can keep track.

separately, right now my favorite obsession is to do haiku on twitter, but that's so obscure and techie, I can't see many of my mom friends getting what I'm talking about. my advice would be to join in and see what's going on on twitter. I suppose I like it because it seems like a ticker of the collective unconscious, but maybe it's all just crap. Follow me: www.twitter.com/emilybee

I have the privilege of working with a guy who (though pretty young) is quite clever and very wise.

As a tribute to his "mad" life skills and quick wit, I feel compelled to share some of his wisdom (his good advice) here on the blog.





Carter Thomas, b. 1983


Top 10 Lessons I've learned from Carter Thomas:

10 - No pun is too corny when writing a beer column.
Describing an expensive beer, "price may be hard to swallow" or blonde ales, "Rumor is true, blonde ales have more fun" - these beer articles are worth reading just to see how over the top he can go.

9 - The phrase "sick" can actually be used in complete seriousness to describe something one thinks is really great.
In context: "The big spike in the sales results we saw yesterday was sick!"

8 - When engaging in a bet, the exact meaning of the word "snow" is open for interpretation.
Just because the air outside is filled with white colored precipitation, it may not actually qualify as "snowing". There's the does-it-stick factor, the density of snowflakes in the air - many possible important variations.

7 - Facebook only has a two year cool period from initiation point, after that it's out.

6 - 80's music is cool and ironic in the way disco was for my age group.
Today it was "Gloria, I think I got your number." Tomorrow, "Mr. Roboto"?

5 - When the world's gotten on your last nerve, go throw rocks at the ocean.

4 - With respect to work bribes, nothing much tops a free sandwich.

3 - With respect to working out, nothing even comes close to trumping a push-up.

2 - Most things in life can be turned into an over/under bet.

1 - Top ten lists are sick.

Banter and blog posts

Has been a poor showing from me on the blog lately. Blame it on the stars, the endocrine system, the time change. Hard to say why the pause from posting much, but my once fool-proof method of thinking, "what did I do today that went well...blog about it" has failed me of late.


Actually, it's mostly because my good advice lately has to do primarily to do with work, getting to work or feeding myself at work. Since my fellow blog-girls don't work in an office, it's feel somewhat useless in this space. But, I'm wondering, is the not blogging about the pointless work-efficiencies holding up the better more useful flow?

Anyway, here's my dumb good advice du jour:

- keep granola and yogurt at work in the work fridge. you'll never regret it and will start everyday well balanced. I will post the granola recipe later from the downstairs computer.

- have a folder on the toolbar of your internet browser called "everyday". put your sites in there you like to visit to start the day. keep an eye on the clock and stay within a reasonable time period (like 15 mins). good way to warm up the brain and something do to while eating granola. I typically check my email accounts, facebook, nytimes, wsj and my horoscope. on a slow day I'll also check in with Perez.

- make a little extra dinner in the evening and then take it to work the next day (this is probably something you're already doing if you like to pack your lunch, I know. Just trying to slay the demons)

- read perez at lunch. do it on the sly. somehow gossip's better when you're sneaking around.

- IM with the hubby, very briefly everyday. better than a phone call and good way to get essential information to one another, i.e. "need milk on way home." "okay". also pretty fun to do on the sly.

- keep a stocked diaper bag in the car at all times. gives you the freedom to change plans on the fly and keeps your child tended to. keep an extra set of clothes for him/her in there, too. where I live, the beach is luckily almost never out of the question.

that's all I have today. hope it helps someone somewhere and if nothing else opens up something better tomorrow.