write away's Open Salon Blog

Summer Book Club - You and Your Teen-aged Kids

Tue, 8 Jun 2010 13:06:58 -0400

Summer is a perfect time to reconnect intellectually with your kids. I bet you didn't think connecting intellectually with teenagers was even possible - much less 'reconnecting'. It's true, the last time I had a remotely intellectual conversation with my son was when he was six. He told me he was having a hard time sleeping because he couldn't stop thinking about infinity. That was cool! That was so long ago!

Then last summer, my brother-in-law recommended that I read Holes by Louis Sachar.

Holes is about a boy sent to a juvenial detention camp for a crime he did not commit. While there he is forced to dig holes every day, apparently because the warden is searching for something. Reading this in the heat of the summer really helps set the mood. I loved it! I gave it to my son. He loved it! We discussed it. We actually spoke to each other about something that was not related to household chores and no there was no yelling or sarcasm. This was very promising.

The next book we read was Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

This science fiction book is about a boy sent to Battle School, where he learns how to fight insectoid aliens called "Buggers" This book ties really well into the whole video game experience, something I thought my son would find engaging. I loved this book. He loved this book. More conversation ensued.

From there we went on to Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas.

One thing my son and I do share is a similar sense of humor. This book was funny - and about a fry cook who sees dead people. Odd Thomas has vivid characters, a great, fast-paced story and I found it to be very sweet and charming (I didn't mention that part to my son). We both enjoyed it and eagerly looked forward to the next installments of this story (four in all and one graphic novel).

A summer of reading well spent. He's still a teen-aged boy and still has all the unpleasantness that goes along with it and I'm still a middle-aged Mom and I still have all the unpleasantness that goes along with that - but it's nice to know we can find things that we can enjoy talking about.

By the way - as a girl, I can tell you that these books are great for girls as well. Enjoy!

The Green Haze

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:04:16 -0400

I love spring. I love the flowers, the soft scents wafting on gentle breezes. The warm feeling of the sun on my skin. I love the sounds of cardinals courting and morning doves nesting. But most of all, I love the color of “new green”.

New green is the color of translucent young leaves, soft springy grass, and the wonderful backdrop of color that perfectly highlights the reds, fuchsias, and soft pinks of azalea blooms. Sunlight shimmers and penetrates new green and bounces from leaf to leaf. The soft rosy light at sunset is reflected back into purple shadows of new green. Yes, new green is my favorite color.

However, new green is also the color of tree pollen. I’m very allergic to tree pollen.

Tree pollen transfers the delights of new green into the pall of a toxic green haze. As my commuter bus leaves the NJ Turnpike and turns into what was once considered to be the cool green haven of home, I find it is now covered with a dome of sickly green light. There is a layer of green dust covering every surface. The knob on my front door, my mailbox, my car. Everything is gritty to the touch, everything feels unclean. It is unavoidable. Every time the door opens, a puff of green dust wafts in. It’s trailed into my home on the soles of my shoes. My clothing brushes up against my car door and now the fabric is polluted by the insidious allergen. My children are carriers of this awful scourge. As my son snuggles up against me, a granule of tree pollen is shaken from his golden curls and floats unerringly up into my left nostril.

I sneeze. My eyes itch. My nose itches. My ears itch. The roof of my mouth itches. My lungs hurt. The antihistamines taken by the seemingly fistful do nothing but make my eyes swim around slowly in my head. They are no match for the constant onslaught of the toxic green haze.

I’m now looking forward to summer.

Living with something no one ever heard of

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 10:12:14 -0500

Hi - My name is 'write away' and I have Chronic Idiopathic Angioedema

Chronic = happens often

Idopathic = no one knows why

Angioedema = deep tissue swellings, usually in the face, but can happen anyplace on the body, some of which I'd rather not talk about.

My immunoligist sees me once a year and all she can do is pat my hand and say "It might go away after menopause" Yeah! Something to look forward to during menopause.

At first we tried all sorts of drugs: antihistamines, steriods, epiphendrine. The Prednisone didn't do much except put me at risk for Glaucoma (although it did clear up my dandruff). The antihistimes cleared up a little sniffle I had, but not much else. The epi-pen leaves me with a horrible hangover.

We tried to isolate the offending allergen with tests, blood work and limited diets, but in the end, the going theory is that my immune system just doesn't like being exposed to viruses. So if you are sick - stay away from me!

I missed 13 days from work this year due to it and, in this economic climate, I'm starting to get paranoid about those sick days. I swear, I'm not a malingerer.

My husband gets the evil eye from passers by if I venture outside. No - he didn't do it.

Sometimes the swellings are so extreme, I look like various cartoon characters. My kids have fun trying to guess which one.

This syndrome is only life threatening on rare occasions. It depends on what swells up. Because of that, if I feel a swelling coming on in my throat or the little thingy that hangs down in your throat (the uvula), I don't get much sleep at night. If the uvula swells up, my husband doesn't get much sleep either - the snoring is tremdous.

I have enough understanding about the things that can go wrong with the human body, that I count my blessings every day. But damn! The gods have a very twisted sense of humor. Or the powers that be are really creative and I'm a sentient lump of play doh.

Is replacing a billing system like building a house?

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 13:10:39 -0400

1,2,3 - let's go!

(Change computer system from vertical to horizontal) You have been tasked with building a house from blueprints of an architect’s vision, a type of building which has never been built before. You were given a deadline – everything has to be completed by the end of the year. You have X many guys to do the work and, given the deadline and the number of people you have working, it will require some heroic effort, but it is just on this side of doable.

Stress point #1 (Dominique quits): an employee leaves and you are told that you cannot replace her. However, the deadline still exists, and now, even working 20 hour days, it doesn’t look like you will make the deadline. You are told that you will just have to work smarter and figure it out.

Stress point #2 (The new system sucks): The architect’s artistic vision is not very realistic. For example, he wants the main beam that will be supporting the living room roof to be just 5 feet 7 inches from the floor. When you tell him that that’s ridiculous, everyone will bump their heads walking through the room, the response is that we’ll just have to train everyone to duck and only the people who are taller than 5’7” will be affected anyway. Everyone else will be able to walk in there with no problem. You begin work on the plan, knowing that’s its all wrong. Sometime later, the architect walks into the room and bumps his head. “Uh oh” he says, “that won’t work”. He redraws the plans, putting the beam at the normal height and you have to tear down what you’ve done and start over.

Stress point #3 (PIB changes their industry reporting rules): While you are working on the new house, your neighborhood association for your old house informs you that they changed the rules, and your exterior paint job is no longer in compliance with the bylaws. You must repaint immediately, or face paying exorbitant fines. OK – this one job you can hire out – it will require your supervision, but you can focus your main energy on building the new house.

Stress point #4 (Old system needs operating system upgrade): You received a notice informing you that the electrical panel on your old house is being recalled because it is unsafe. You will not be able to renew your home insurance unless you replace it. Your policy expires in August. The only people you can have work on the old house is currently setting up the electrical system for your new house. But the deadline for the new house doesn’t change.

Stress point #5 (Sarbanes-Oxley): The building inspector is requiring that you write down how you will meet building code requirements and will be by to compare your written document with the work in progress. They also want to make sure that all the houses you built before met the building code and are asking you to prove it by comparing your written document with other documents you wrote before. They also have security concerns. They want a written account of where all the keys are, who has them, and the approval process for transferring a key from one person to another. In addition, they want to audit your alarm system and are asking for all previous reports from your alarm monitoring company detailing any false alarms and steps you took to correct the situation so that false alarms don’t happen again. Each time you submit the documentation, they have questions about what certain phrases mean and wonder if there are more procedures they should be examining. They need to know what the meaning of the word “is” is. The lawyers are starting to wonder if some of your procedures will leave you open to future lawsuits and the accountants are starting to wonder if you kept good enough records to protect you from bankruptcy.

Stress point #6 (Replacement of classified advertising system): Your relatives from overseas are coming to stay and the current guest cottage is unsafe and doesn’t have enough room for all of them. You need to replace the guest cottage ASAP. Normally, this would be a very enjoyable project (maybe even requiring a trip to London to see how much stuff they need to fit into the new cottage), but given everything else that’s going on right now – this is just one more distraction you don’t need.

Outcome: We like the view out of the living room window. There is water and boats and trees and birds. The view is so relaxing, just the antidote for the past year. What is that? Is that a crane and a cement truck?