Communicatrix is my new favorite word.

Cindy, sounds like an exciting opportunity for Ben! Yay!

Gronklies, y'all.

Would like to meara, or at least acknowledge all that has gone before, but as I think my brain is still in one of the gajillion boxes or bags I haven't unpacked yet, I just cannot. So hugs to all indiscriminately (except for those who care not for them). And glitter.

On Saturday went up to Hollywood to see PotC III (and Dayumn! It ought to be illegal how good OB looks in eyeliner) at the El Capitan Theatre. Very cool with the decor, and props and costumes (and Tia Dalma is really a very tiny person, according to her costume), and souvenir bucket o'corn. But it meant that I left San Diego around 1 on Sat and didn't get home until around 3:30 am.

Then yesterday was my Mom's community choir performance at a couple of local retirement homes. She wanted me to come, and I figure since she's been going to my performances for a couple/few decades, it was the least I could do. Kinda fun with the music, and I helped out a couple of residents with their music sheets or singing along, so cool (except for one poor woman [in the choir] who slipped during a "dance" number and dislocated her kneecap. So extra drama at retirement home number two. She's going to be fine, thankfully). But after that performance running way over time, then their potluck after (and having almost no time Saturday) - I was still finishing my packing and cleaning late into the night last night. Had to sack out on the couch when I went home, because the clothes I moved home are all over my bed in mid-sort.

So, as I may have mentioned, Gronk.

Can someone please teach these children some manners. I am so tired of answering the phone and hearing "I have this issue or this question" First, you say hello. Then you identify yourself, and what your affiliation is (i.e. which of my programs you belong to) and THEN you tell me what your issue is. It's so fucking rude!

Had to comment on this one because sometimes I feel like I'm babbling and that the people at school are just wishing I'd get on with it when I do the "Hi. [background info] I'm calling about [question about program or whatever]" thing. I'm glad to know that Vortex at least prefers to be spoken to like a person rather than a "press 'one' for a recording that might answer your question"-type thing.

(Oh, and when asked my name on those calls, I always give last name first, and usually spell it. 'Course, since I'm one of those "non-standard" students, i.e. 36 on my next birthday, I guess I'm not a good indicator of trend. Do I at least restore a smidge of your faith in the current student population)?

edited because even with re-reading about three times before posting, still there was a spelling error. I did mention the missing brain, right?

I like Technical Communication Specialist as well.

Yeah, I like this better than the one with "documentation." I've had various "documentation" titles over the last decade or so, and it kinda implies ISO documentation or internal procedures to me, and it sounds like you'll be doing much more.

Apparently his teacher did. It will meet in D.C., in the fall. According to the materials, it's for students who are (will be then) in the sixth and seventh grades.

give him my number in case he needs bail money. :) Seriously, you can give him my number in case he needs anything or gets lost or whatever.

Have any of you ever heard of the Junior National Young Leaders Conference (JrNYLC)? Apparently my son was nominated.

I haven't heard of it, but if the idea is to persuade you to buy a book, decline. That goes double if the letter identifies your son by a name that isn't even close to his (including gender). And that goes triple if, when you try to correct the name, the company sends an apology that apologizes for not referring to you as the grandparents of wrongname.

Fred Pete, are you running away from the National Library of Poetry people again?

Technical Communication Specialist

This is good. Speaking as a Technical Editor for the Evil Empire, that's a title I've seen on resumes around here.

Sox, it was a "Who's Who among American Teenagers" type thing. But I run away from anyone that thinks I'm Laura Jane Adams. Or any other name that's so radically different from my own.

I mean, I'm still a little befuddled by my genealogy research that suggests that an "e" was dropped from my family's last name during the 1920s.

...is there no good place for an E in your last name, Fred?

I just had a rather distressing lunchtime shopping experience. Less so for me than for others, but my heart was still racing: I was at Target (a two-level one) and walked past the escalators, looking at a dress, suddenly heard SCREAMIING. SCREAMING. This woman was going down the escalator with her kid (looked to be 3 or 4) and he'd gotten his foot stuck in the side of the escalator, and she was shrieking for someone to turn off the escalator as they continued to go down. Eventually she popped his foot out. She kept screaming, though. I couldn't tell how he was--she was still screaming, but the other people around seemed fairly calm (telling her to calm down) so I'm guessing he didn't look too bad (clearly no bleeding, but it could've been sprained or broken)--he was crying, but not bloodcurdlingly so.

Had me all shook up for a few minutes, and I'm not even a mother.

Oh, meara, that's awful.