Storytime

About 20 minutes after she was already supposed to be in bed, our older daughter informed us that she still hadn't finished her mystery story that was due the next day. Thinking she only had to type it, we let her stay up to finish it. 30 minutes later, she informed us that it couldn't be longer than 500 words, and her current story was 625. No problem, right? Just needed a little editing, right? We could help her with that, right? *ahem* Then we read the story for the first time. Oh. My. It was supposed to be a mystery. She had decided her main character was going to be kidnapped and taken through a black hole into a dungeon. Oooookkkkk. But she neglected to explain the black hole thing in her already too long story. Ouch. So now it's an hour past her bedtime, and guess who gets the "editing" responsibility? Except it's not so much editing as re-writing. Heaven forbid she would have worked on it or talked to us about it last week when she was off of school most of the week. So at 10:00 at night, I'm furiously re-writing her story while trying not to rewrite her story. At least I got rid of the black hole of suck (my not to affection name for her plot devise). Thank heavens her grade isn't totally dependent on this one.

End of Winter

Haven't been super motivated to write anything in here lately. Not much going on, I guess. My father-in-law did die, but it's weird. He didn't have a service, and it's kind of like witnessing a traffic accident - you look, say "eh" and move on. I don't know that I feel anything about it. Which is sad, I guess.

Girls are back in school after almost a week off between holidays and snow days. I miss gratuitous holidays. I would love to have President's day and Groundhog's day and Winter Solstice and any other thing I could think of off. Not that I would do much. I just like sleeping in. I also love staying inside when it's really cold and sucky outside. No better time to read in front of a fireplace until you get so hot that you want to go out in said sucky weather to cool off. And of course, there are the marshmallows. Anyone for a s'more?

In Defense of Businesspeople

Just read in another person blog a lament about the comic strip "For Better or Worse." Seems as though the cartoon character just got a book deal, and the commentator has a bug up their arse about how unrealistic it is. Biggest complaint is how quickly everything has happened. Leaving beside that we ARE talking about a cartoon character, I have only one thing to say: Get over it. I mean, really, gimme a break. They're whining because a cartoon(!?) is making their profession seem easier than it is? Cry me a river.

Try being a business person. I have yet to see an honest portrayal of the busines world in ANY movie, book, or play that I have EVER seen. If you listened to pop culture, you'd think that every business person is a greedy bastard who wears nice suits and spends their days in a luxorious windowed office on the 40th floor, trying to figure out how to screw the average man. They then take their beamer to their penthouse for a quickie at lunch before returning home to their alcoholic wives. Oh, and lest we forget, unless it's the fashion industry or perhaps some touchy-feely social welfare thing, they will ALWAYS return home to their wives because they are always male. Um, yeah. That's the way it happens for 99% of the folks out there. Pity my office is in the 1% that isn't like that. Most business people work their asses off to make things run smoothly in this world. Without talented business people, most folks would at best not have half the pretty playthings that make life worth living, at worst not have enough food or a job. Yet is the business person EVER the hero in a movie/play/tv show? Um, no. Just once, I'd like to see a show like LOST feature the heroic businessman saving the day while the evil doctor hides in the bushes like a helpless little bunny. Grrr. Arg.