On a snowy morning in April, my Canadian-born mother and American-born father struggled through the final hours of labor. At 7:35am on April 5th, I was born in a small apartment in Belleville, a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For five years my family moved: in and out of three Canadian cities and two provinces, until finally, shortly before I entered kindergarten, my father was offered a transfer. My dad was an employee of the Toronto-based Northern Telecom (later known as Nortel) and he and my mom jumped at the opportunity to try a warmer climate and better cost of living. We moved to Nashville, Tennessee. I have not lived…
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Long Days
I’m going to skip the guilt for not posting this time. For the record I did post, and a pretty good one at that, about a month ago. But seeing as it dealt with work, and in a pretty negative way, I decided it was neither the time nor place (yeah, censorship!) and took it down after about 15 minutes. Which actually ties nicely into my gloomy post for this evening. I’ve noted several times of the past few months that this year sucks. At first I thought it was just me feeling sorry for myself for turning 30, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Aside from…
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Hopelessly undevoted to you
I know, I know. I’m hopeless at blogging. Ironically I have been doing some posting, just not that much here. But don’t be sad- you’re always be my first. Christmas was good aside from a miserable cold that hit Christmas Eve and would not let go. Wonderful to see the family and just hang out and relax. My brother and his wife have big plans to be pregnant again by next December (and keep telling everyone about it!) so that may be the last time we’re all together for awhile. Went to NYC for New Years. Had a great time with with my friends and got to see a lot…
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The Cookie Affair
Every year I participate in a cookie exchange with some ladies from work. My mom does so much cooking that I like to try to help out by bringing home 6 or 7 dozen cookies to keep the troops occupied satiated with sugar. In case you’re not familiar with the concept of a cookie exchange, I have to make 6 dozen cookies and I trade them with a dozen cookies 6 other people have made. Of course I also like to make a dozen to take home for myself because I (unbiasedly) believe mine are usually the best anyway. With 7 dozen cookies to make, I like to try to…
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The General World of Jen
I love the holidays. There’s a purpose behind them: once a year we have to slow down and look around. Whether or not you like what you see it’s a chance for reflection and, hopefully, gratitude. I visited with my cousin and her daughter (cute baby at left) to exchange presents this afternoon. I won’t see them for at least three weeks and it’s bumming me out. But no present in the world can beat falling asleep with a baby on my chest while watching ‘A Muppet Christmas Carol’. That’s what life is all about right there. Sadly I can’t focus on the holidays quite yet. Heading home and seeing…
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Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Monty Python)
My crazy cousin has a great blog where she spends lots of time talking about her sweet little baby (http://jellybeanmama.blogspot.com/). Her post yesterday (“It Could Always Be Worse”) resonated because I, and I suspect many of you, have been feeling the chill of recession and tension of questionable job security lately. So here is my contribution to positive thinking. The 5 things I am grateful for today: Friends who have you over for a fantastic (and free) home-cooked meal. Comes with great conversation. A home that has a mortgage I can afford. Having a skill and a job (with awesome perks like health insurance and coworkers I like) where I…
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Thanksgiving: The Horror
Yes, all right, it’s been a month since I’ve posted. I am going to add a “Post to blog” task on my “Remember the Milk” list and monitor it via my iPhone. I know, it’s hard to believe I don’t have time to post since I obviously don’t have a life. So I am one of those people that, when asked by friends and neighbors “how was your Thanksgiving?”, feel compelled to really answer. A simple “fine” is not in my vocabulary. And when I stopped to recall this Thanksgiving, it was really quite chilling. First there was the conversation at Thanksgiving dinner. Somehow I ended up sitting between my…
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Fall Frolicking
Well, I still feel bad about having dropped my class but there’s no doubt in my mind that was the solution for me. Things have been much easier without a class to worry about, although I do still owe my professor a project from the Spring. But I am good at procrastinating and having flexibility does wonders for my mood– so much less stress! Really makes me not want to go back to grad school, too… The last few nights I’ve just been home, doing laundry and watching TV. Sure, I still work from home, check email, update Drupal etc., but it’s easier now that I don’t get home at…
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I’m cheating on you, baby
Since I was feelin’ like there wasn’t much going on [LIE] I thought I’d come up with something else to do: how about a year-long course on how to be a leader? What can I say, work doesn’t pay for training much [EVER] so I thought I should take advantage. Now as part of my sharing and leading and learning and growing I have a new blog, for which the co-workers who kindly agreed to judge me during this process can keep up-to-date with my “progress”. I’ll be honest, I’m having a hard time keeping the sarcasm in check on there. Not because I don’t think this is worthwhile, just…
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10 Things I Learned on Vacation
Wisconsin is huge. Contrary to popular belief, one can go two whole weeks without a phone, email, web browsing, TV, etc. It’s true. Cheezees (aka: Cheesy Poofs, Cheetos, etc.) are the perfect vacation food (unless you’re 4 and get queasy while riding up a twisty mountain road…) I do not sleep well in the car. The water in Canada is cold, but it really does feel good when you get in. Honest! Chicago has traffic jams. At 2:30. AM. On Sunday morning. Apparently I can spend 17 days with my family and not want to kill them. Mosquito’s suck. A LOT. Strawberry muffins are fabulous (at least those from the…
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All-Star City
