Facie’s Ramblings

This week, thanks to the college kids moving to (or back to) school, parking at work has been tricky. My usual lot as well as my backup one had been closed, and I received conflicting info as to when they'd open. Monday I drove around for awhile and lucked out, as some city dweller was just leaving his large space. But because I can't parallel park worth a crap and spaces are far and few, I decided to look into taking a bus.  Public transportation is not for everyone. In fact the hubby told me the only way he would ever get on a bus was if someone put his casket in there (lovely, eh). But I am all kinds of optimism mixed with sensibility so I figured it could not be that bad. Probably the worst part about it is there have been so many stops eliminated, so it is not convenient for everyone. My original plan was to catch a bus a couple communities over, where the kid goes to day care, since I drop her off. But, alas, I discovered that would entail dropping her off about 20 minu...

Full disclosure: I don't have an actual bucket list, at least not something physical. And I don't have a lofty list of things I hope to accomplish partly because I am not that motivated but mostly because I am risk-averse. I would think people would have things like sky-diving or mountain-climbing on their lists. For many years I wanted to travel to a few places, including New Orleans, California, and Hawaii. But since I hate flying, I have decided if I make it to Hawaii, that would be great. Beyond that, this homebody just does not have a travel wish or bucket list. I guess I should be glad I went to Europe when I was in high school (which also happened to be the first time I ever flew on an airplane). I really don't know the kinds of things people even put on their bucket lists. I got married and had a kid.  I own a house (though as I have said many times that is not all it is cracked up to be). When I was in high school, I did not even care if I went to college, ...

Just a quick post to say that the Pirates are in first place in their division AND it is August! The last time that happened, I was in college. That almost makes me feel old. In any event, people, this is a big deal. Huge. The fans finally have a reason to go to beautiful PNC Park other than to watch pieorogies race (which I thoroughly enjoy, by the way). I know so many people who were not alive the last time the Pirates were relevant. But relevant the Buccos are. Let's go, Bucs!

This post doesn't have anything to do with my being kind, which I mostly am. But I was pretty sure I had already used the post title I really wanted, "Make a decision already." Yep, just checked now, and I wrote a post with that very name three years ago, ironically about the topic this post is going to be about! But I digress. The real story? Ladies and gentleman: Facie bought a smart phone! This is monumental for me! Can you tell?! I am using a lot of exclamation points! The details: My over-three-year-old phone had been dying a slow death for quite some time. It couldn't hold a charge for an entire day. To make matters worse, my car phone charger died, but it seemed silly to replace that, knowing I was going to replace the phone soon. Or so I told myself for the past six or eight months. But despite my stopping into the Verizon store a few times in the past five months, I just couldn't pull the trigger. Last week, when my phone decided to shut its...

This post is going to be about George Zimmerman being found not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin. But not completely. Let me start off by saying I did not follow the trial closely. I did, however, read a few AP articles over the past week or so. About the only thing I can say with certainty is that I was neither in the courtroom nor on the jury. So I do not have the benefit of all that testimony and evidence. And neither did you (unless you were there). But the comments I have read on Facebook? They are all over the place. Based on various comments, George Zimmerman could have been a racist (a Hispanic man can be racist against a black man), a vigilante, someone trying to protect his neighborhood, or someone trying to defend his life. He could have started the fight, or he could have been the one fighting back. He may have been following neighborhood watch guidelines, or he could have been overstepping. I think he had some sort of a record, but not sure. Trayvon Martin could have...

But this post is not going to be about my regrets; I will save those for another blog post (or maybe never). Instead, I want to come up with a list of things, on the fly, that I do not regret! Here goes, in no particularly order (because, again, these are just popping into my head): Moving to Pittsburgh. I have blogged about my love for the city (and I have complained about a number of things as well). But I am glad I live here and hope to for as long as possible.  Having a child. I debated about this for years. And I almost did not have J. But I thank God and whoever and whatever else is responsible for that (including the hubby!). Getting married. I am not going to pretend it has been easy. And there are times I just do not want to be married. But there is something about making a commitment and sharing the journey with someone else. Loving and losing in love. Heartbreak sucks, but I think it is important to go through it. Whatever doesn't kill you... Being close to my f...

Before I launch into a woe-is-me tale, let me tell you how bad I feel about complaining, knowing how many good things I have in my life and how much worse off others are. But I feel the need to get this off my chest. Unfortunately as much as I like my job, I find myself staying late pretty often. I had one blissful, leave-on-time week two weeks ago, which I thought was how it was going to be for the next month or so, but, well, um, no. We have deadlines. And, more than that for me/the bigger reason is I want my materials to be perfect or nearly so; I am unwilling to let pretty much anything slip past me. As a result, I find myself doing a lot of extra work/going the extra mile. So after putting my time in (and often eating at my desk), I walk the 10 minutes to my car, sit at every light imaginable (seriously, can we just computerize those babies after 5:30 or 6?!), suffer through tunnel traffic, even after 6 p.m., and I am home late (duh). Some days I eat with my family; more often...