Confession

I'm a bad friend.

No really.

As much as I love the people I get to associate with (that includes family), I've had a really hard time catching up with people lately. I really want to know what people are doing, but I've been so self-involved that I haven't caught up on anyone's blogs in a long time.

That doesn't mean I don't care, or that I'm completely clueless. But I'm finally pulling my head out of the sand and realizing that these wonderful people I love have been dealing with their own trials. Like moving and tough pregnancies and health issues and house problems and money issues and difficult children, to name a few.

In fact, a lot of what other people are dealing with sound very familiar to me. I'm sure that means I need to spend more time concerned with other people and less time concerned with myself.

In short, I love you. I really do. I'm sorry and I'll make it up to you. I'll pay attention and listen and catch up on my reading. I'm getting there. Please be patient. :)

Work stuff

Legally, I can't give out any juicy details, but I want to share with you something that happened this last week.

A big survey was completed in June, and about a month later, the client told us there were problems with the data. I was all over it.

I did some serious digging in this data, and before I brought other people in to help out, I insisted that there was more to the story than what we were getting from the client. But it wasn't till the statisticians came on board that the client fully explained what they thought was wrong.

We worked our butts off - extra hours, weekend stuff, etc. And the client would not be satisfied. They finally told us they had lost all confidence in the data, so we buckled down and got more data. They originally told us that it was to be used as example data so we would know how to use the data we had gotten back in June. Then they turned around and said the new stuff would completely replace the June stuff and that the June stuff was bunk.

I suggested combining the old and new because the problem was essentially normalized and they rejected it without any hesitation. Instead, they would get even more data and use that instead. All of this new data was at our expense.

So today I go in to the office and the account manager tells me that they did end up combining after all. Any thanks to me? Of course not.

I guess it's gratifying that they would use my suggestion after all, but considering all the hemming and hawing they did about telling us the problem in the first place, and considering the amount of blame they put on me for convincing the account manager not to run additional data (like I have that kind of influence!), it's really just annoying. I am so glad I don't have to work with them directly. The whole thing just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Thankfully, I know how much my supervisor and my boss appreciate me and the work I do. And I know that the only opinion that matters is theirs. It's really nice to have them stick up for me.

My midwife

My awesome friend Jenica recommended a birthing center a while back, and after visiting and taking a tour 2 weeks ago, I fell in love.

Becky McInnis is awesome. She's competent and friendly and totally granola and professional all at the same time. Yesterday I had my first actual appointment and it was everything I wanted it to be.

The birthing center (Birth and Family Place) is small and comfortable. It feels much more like a bed and breakfast. There are three birthing rooms - they have a double bed in each room and a jetted tub in each of the bathrooms.

It's homey and friendly and wonderful. I would recommend it to anyone and I haven't delivered there yet.

There is one thing though - they won't take high risk pregnancies or births and they only take full-term. That means if I go early again like I did with Felix then I'll have to go to a hospital. So I'm doing my best to follow all the recommendations I can get from Becky. Wish me luck!

A Grand Day Out

On Friday night one of my friends called to ask if I wanted to go to the outlet stores of Park City on Saturday. I jumped on that.

Although we missed CarrieAnne and Laurie couldn't go, Wendy's daughter jumped in and we ended up being a group of 7.

5 hours later and we were on our way back, with the back of the van filled with purchases - things for school for various children, things for ourselves, and even some things for spouses.

Our favorite store seemed to be Harry and David. If you have ever been there you'll know what I'm talking about. If you haven't been there - go! It's all about gourmet foods, and the sales people were all sorts of willing to let us try everything. I had so many samples...

And I just finished eating some amazing pasta that I got there. Garlic rosemary fedelini (a little bit skinnier than fetuccini) with a cream sauce and topped with Italian 4 cheese medley. YUM!!!!

car

I can't even begin to describe my frustration with our car at the moment. Thank goodness for really good mechanics. It's not over yet, but it is better. By the end, however, we'll have spent somewhere around $600 on the latest round of whatever this is. And we're still not sure. So frustrating.

And so I reiterate - DO NOT BUY A VW!!!

It's a girl!

(the one that says lips/nose is a little difficult to decipher - the little white stripe in the middle is her upper lip, the little tiny triangle to the right is her nose, and the little triangle to the left is her chin)

Want a drink?