8/21/2008

Today

Today the Rameys welcomed baby boy Everett to their family. WOO!

Today was my last day in the Barkley office. BOO.

I'm not going to lie, walking out of Barkley this morning totally sucked. Barkley has been a huge part of my life for the past five years, two months and 20 days. That's a long time. In that time I've went from Account Manager to Senior Account Manager to Account Supervisor. I moved from Omaha to Kansas City. I went from Hicks to Fitch. I tooled around on Organized Living, Learning Quest, Ameristar, Blue Bunny, Payless, and the Breast Cancer 3-Day. And most importantly several colleagues turned into lifelong friends. It was extremely hard to say good-bye to everyone this morning and I already miss them.

I am very, very excited to start at BL on Tuesday and I know making the move from Barkley to Bailey was the right decision. But it still doesn't make leaving my friends and colleagues at Barkley any easier. Will I stop tearing up? Cause it feels like that is all I have been doing today.

8/14/2008

Rolling Stone Article

The Heavy Soul fellas brought this article on the Von Maur shootings to my attention.

This article disturbs me for several reasons.

First, one commenter to the article and blogger points out that in the hard copy the pages are splattered with red ink to represent blood. How distasteful Rolling Stone, seriously.

Second, I realize Hawkins had a horrible childhood. I really do. But what about the people that grow up with terrible childhoods and turn out better than fine? Those that were abused as kids that grow up to be successful? Where are the seven page stories about those individuals and their achievements? I don't understand what the writer is trying to get across in this article. Is he trying to say that Hawkins did this and is excused for doing this because his life was so shitty growing up. (Newsflash - Hawkins continued to make poor decisions throughout his life, in drugs, infidelity, etc.) Really, is that an excuse? Is he trying to place blame on the parents? Do they need to be tried on murder charges? Yes, he was a troubled man. But you didn't need to point that out Mark Boal. We knew he was troubled by what he did December 5, 2007. Thanks for writing about the obvious.

Third, the comment about Hawkins having to get a job at McDonalds because the Nebraska farming industry was so poor is just bogus.

Fourth. The description Mark Boal, who I am beginning to dislike more and more, portrayed after Von Maur's reopening is just sick. As I commented on the Heavy Soul site: "the reponening of Von Maur after the shootings was not about making up for lost profits for the holiday season. It was about helping a community move on and cope with what they dealt with. Knowing a Von Maur associate, who was at the store during the shootings and right next to one of the victims, I applaud Von Maur for how they handled this situation and how they treated their employees and victims' families. Also, less Mr. Boal forget about the reopening ceremony of the event where wreaths were placed at the store's entrance in memory of the victims. And the fact that hundreds of people made a memorial outside of the store with signs, snowflakes, cards, posters, etc. and that, once those items had to be removed, they were boxed up and placed in large plastic tubs and kept - not thrown away - shows that the support Omaha showed for the victims, the community and one another, was not taken lightly. And if he'd go to the store now he'd see a plaque hanging in the store listing the victim's names."

And finally - the stupid writer saying the Von Maur shootings have been forgotten about. Just because something is no longer in the news every single day does not mean it has been forgotten about. The country's most prolific terrorist act, 9/11, isn't in the news every day. Does that mean we forgot about what happened that September day? No. The Von Maur is the biggest incident in Nebraska in 50 years. Things like that do NOT go unforgotten.

8/10/2008

Muffin Top

Trevor and I saw this commercial Friday night and we were dying. Check it out HERE.

8/08/2008

8.8.08

Today marks the beginning of one of the most impressive events in the world - and I am not talking about the Olympic games. Today the 2008 Breast Cancer 3-Day Series kicked off in Chicago. This morning nearly 2,000 men and women attended Opening Ceremonies for the first of 14 three-day, 60 mile walks taking place through November.  

The Chicago Breast Cancer 3-Day holds a special place in my heart as that is the event I participated in three seasons ago with Michelle, Lizzie and Shannon. 
To most walkers, the Breast Cancer 3-Day is their Olympics. For months, participants have trained for the life-changing event. For many, walking 60 miles and raising $2,200 is the biggest accomplishment of their lives. And each will receive a gold medal, which is knowing they are making a personal difference in the fight against breast cancer. Honestly, the only real difference between the Breast Cancer 3-Day and the Olympics is that Matt and Meredith were in Beijing this morning - not Chicago :-). 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the importance of the Olympic games starting. I got goose bumps watching "Today" this morning just hearing the Olympic games theme song and stories of Michael Phelps, Dawn Johnson and other amazing athletes preparing to set world records and achieve personal victories. Macy is really enjoying that I am walking around the house this morning singing "God Bless the USA." 

8.8.08 is a day people around the world have been anticipating for years. And with that, good luck to the pink, red, white and blue.  

PS: Happy 28th Josh!

8/07/2008

Today is August 7

which not only means it's Heartguard day for Macy, it also means one month 'til my birthday!

8/05/2008

My eyes are watering a bit

I was in college, living at 616 N. 16th Street (aka the Kappa house in Lincoln), when the Anthrax scare was going on. Our house mom Carol really wanted us all to wear gloves and masks when we got the mail - which was kind of funny. Anyway, I just watched this video and it freaked me out a bit.

Countdown 'til Baby Seger Arrives

Brian and Michelle will be welcoming a little one at the end of September. Over the weekend Annie, Shannon, Emilie, Megan, Denise and I hosted a shower at Roja to prepare them for baby Seger. It was a great shower. The venue was perfect and complemented the brightly-colored theme we had going on, and the margs (regular and non-alcoholic) were refreshing on the 100+ degree day! We played a few fun games and, most importantly, Brian and Michelle received great gifts. They should be very prepared for him (that's my guess) :-) to arrive.

More photos from the shower can be found HERE. Enjoy!


8/04/2008

Random observations from class

There are three girls in my current class that drive me bonkers. The first two come exTREMELY dolled up and flirt with the professor the entire time. It's gross. And annoying. Today they chatted with him so long I wanted to say, "take it outside and pass out the damn tests!" (Which I think I did well on, BTW.) Next to the annoying brown-nosers is a girl who listens to her iPod the entire class. Only one headphone though. Lectures, today's TEST - you name it. How the professor let's her get away with it is beyond me. It's not like he doesn't see her. She sits in the front row right next to the suck-ups. What song (besides anything from the Mama Mia! or Wicked soundtracks) is that good that you have to listen to it during class? It's just rude.

Finally, as I turned the hallway leaving class I about ran into a woman carrying a green parakeet on her hand. Maybe it was a parrot. I don't know. What I do know is I hate birds and and I hated that it was loose, indoors, so close to me. Fine then - if she's bringing her bird for show and tell, I'm bringing Macy.

8/03/2008

An Apple a Day

Keeps Wendy at Play.

We bought a MacBook this weekend. We have been wanting to get a computer and went to look at Nebraska Furniture Mart. We were thinking of a Mac and we walked out of NFM with one about an hour later. You can't argue with No Interest Financing! The guy at the Apple store in NFM really sold us on a Mac vs. PC and I think we'll really like it. We've spent the past two days playing around with it. The only problem is we should have bought two because neither of us really want to share :-)