Facie’s Ramblings

I really could not decide on the better post title to aptly describe the blogger dinner I went to Saturday night, so I used them both, probably creating the world's longest blog post title! Considering this is going to be a long post, it kind of makes sense. So here is how it went, blow by blow (get your popcorn ready): Brian thought with the nearly always awful traffic on the Parkway East combined with a Pirates game and a closed exit that I should leave at 4:30 for the 6 p.m. dinner. I figured that 4:45 would be safe. In reality, even with a traffic backup at the North Shore, I was driving past the restaurant at 5:20. Unfortunately, the restaurant is BYOB and does not have a bar, so I had a dilemma. After driving around for six or seven minutes, I noticed a bar a block or two up the street, so I parked near it. As I was walking to the bar, I thought back to a time in '94 or '95 when I walked into a bar near the campus of IUP one weekday afternoon. I had hoped and ass...

No, I don't mean I need to go somewhere with the hubby. We did that not too long ago, remember? And the kid will be at grandma's again in another week, so we should get to go on another mini-date. Mini because my husband will be on call, which he is six months out of the year. And that means he cannot go far from home in case he gets a call and particularly if he has to go somewhere. Which brings me to why I need a date. Next weekend I will be meeting up with some fellow bloggers, none of whom I have met in real life and at least half of whom have blogs I have never read, for dinner. I was planning to take Jordan since a couple of the bloggers are bringing their kids. Then hubby informed me a few days ago that he looked at our calendar and saw that I had a blogger dinner, so he figured that would be a good time to send the kid to grandma's. I had reservations about taking Jordan anyway. The next oldest kid there will be four, and I was not sure how Jordan would do wit...

When I first had Jordan, I got a lot of grief from childless people who wanted me to do what I thought were unreasonable things. From taking my baby out to a smoky bar/restaurant to meet people when she should have been down for the night. To waking up my napping toddler to drive somebody somewhere. To entertaining houseguests in my small, guestroom-less house. More often than not, I would give in, because guilt really gets to me. Other times, I would say no, but then feel bad, thinking I was abandoning people that I might not get to see for quite a few months. But in most cases, no matter what I did (or did not do), I ended up feeling resentful. Of course, when those same people had children, things were different. But yet I seem to have forgotten that before I had kids, I had no clue what was involved. I could not understand why my friends would still not go to happy hour. Why not leave the baby home with a sitter or the spouse? I did not understand sleep deprivation and would cal...

I am spitting mad about the whole Ben Roethlisberger thing. Well, maybe not spitting, but definitely yelling mad. In fact, pretty much every time something about him (and particularly his voice) has come on the radio the last few weeks, I scream, often something like, "@sshole!" Of course, he is not the only jag-off on that team. I have never had a problem with the pay athletes receive. They entertain me, sometimes actually bring me joy, and I don't believe that we all should be making the same amount of money. I am all for capitalism. But as I continue to read about the crap these people (see previous post, from last week) are doing, I am starting to change my stance. I don't buy the whole athletes-are-heroes idea. Teachers, doctors, nurses, firefighters and police officers, volunteers, parents especially. Those people should be heroes. But the reality is that kids tend to look up to sports stars. So when Big Ben, looking all WWE, said he wanted to be a role mod...

Recently, I have had a few "nights on the town." Two weeks ago, I saw Sex in the City with some coworkers. This was significant for several reasons. One, the last first-run movie I saw was The Sixth Sense, which I think came out in '99 or '00. Second, I went with some ladies with whom I don't normally hang out. Actually, other than Lynnie, the friend I have had the longest at work (since she started, almost 12 years ago), my closest work friends are guys. Generally speaking, I just prefer men over women, because men tend to be less petty, emotional, and don't often hold a grudge. Plus I am not into a lot of girly things. But, as I said to these gals, it turns out women are not so bad after all. We had some good drinks (mmm, pomegranate martini) and eats beforehand, chatting a lot, and then went to see a long, but pretty good movie. If I don't see another first-run move for a few more years, fine by me, but glad I did it all the same. Then on Thursday, I ...