I always wanted moccasins blah blah blah

So, when I was in Canada with my Mom for my conference, one night we ventured down to the Niagara falls. We were in a typical Canadian gift shop, complete with maple syrup, maple leave adorned jewelry and apparel, and of course moccasins. Picking up a pair of the leather shoes, I chuckled and told my Mom that everytime we were in Canada when I was a kid, I had wanted a pair of moccasins, but then when I had finally gotten a pair, they weren't as exciting as I had thought they'd be so I never wore them.

Apparently, Mom didn't have her listening ears on because the next day when I came back from the conference, Mom handed me a gift - a brand new pair of moccasins. I laughed and she said "What? You said you always wanted some!" Apparently all Mom heard me say was "When I was a kid, I always wanted a pair of moccasins blah blah blah yada yada blah." She hadn't heard the moral of my little reminiscent story.

Now the moccasins have a special place in my heart, with another Mom story attached to them ;)

On another note, hurray for the IRA disarming. I hope it really happens then maybe Mom and Dad can bike Northern Ireland safely someday! That, and it'd be nice to have peace in the violence-torn country. They're both favorites!

Ode to Dad

So, I just remembered that it is my Dad's birthday. So, in honor of my favorite Dad, I am dedicating my blog today to him. So Tom Marshall, this is your life!

On July 28, 19xx (numbers removed on account of it would make Dad look very old and I would have to do math), Thomas Joseph Marshall was the first child to be born to Mary and Robert Marshall. He would spend the majority of his youth on a farm in Ann Arbor, MI, where he would participate in fun-filled activities, such as lighting bags of gasoline on fire and throwing them at things, lighting the barn on fire, and shooting arrows up in the air and hoping that they wouldn't skewer him, his parents, or his siblings (okay, perhaps there was a little hope he would skewer a sib or two).

As the oldest of 7, he was the only O'Connor/Marshall to ever be an only child. But, it was short-lived as the siblings kept on coming, and before long he was sharing one bathroom and one towel with a family of nine.

When he had come of age, Tom ventured off to the great white north and Michigan Tech to become... an engineer. Although, he felt right at home in the freezing and beer-guzzling culture of Tech, he realized that engineering would not fulfill his career dreams and veered toward medicine. But, before doing that, he was able to defeat great odds (11-1) and find the woman of his dreams at Tech. Many men before him and after him said it couldn't be done, but he did it. Not only did he find his gal, but he found one who would buy her own engagement ring and propose to him - amazing!

So, with Lois, Tom went to medical school, and as he was in residency, the greatest event of his life happened. HI daughter - Naomi, the pride and joy of his life - was born. He knew that she would be brilliant and wonderful and he was right!

Eventually, Tom and Lois had two other kids, but I won't bore you with the details, and the family settled in Hubbard Lake, MI. Tom is a Doctor and the Medical Director there and everyone loves him, although not as much as he loves his daughter, Naomi.

The End. Happy Birthday Dad!

Don't stop writing writing writing. What do we do we write write write...ha ha h-ha

So, I'm working on my thesis and I've realized that I have to write the sections fast or I start to get confused about what I'm saying. Por ejemplo, I'm looking at Dora's Thanksgiving currently and looking for my problematic trends in the book. In one section I look at exoticism in the book. Exoticism is when a cultural group is depicted as strange or outlandish. Now Dora has all these animal friends, including a blue, boot-wearing monkey, named Boots. Now of course, this is certainly not a "normal" thing. I'm sure if I were walking home and a blue monkey jumped out of a tree or my backpack started talking to me, I'd think it was odd. But, it's a kid's book, and silly things like that are frequently put in cartoon-like books to stimulate children's imaginations. So, although they put weird things in the book, they're not portraying Latinos as strange, really.

However, in the displacement section (displacement=removing a cultural group from current reality), I do talk about the strange surroundings that Dora and her family are in as a problem, especially for white kids who have no experience with Latino people otherwise. They might think "Latinos can't live next door to me, they live in the woods." In the child interviews, none of the kids thought that Dora was from their hometown. They thought she was from Alaska or Hawaii. Even the kid I interviewed in Denver didn't think that Dora was from around there.

Anyway, I think I've sorted it out, but like I said, I just have to keep writing, or else I start to change my mind, and I think that should wait till the next draft!

On a lighter note, I think I'm making grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch - delisiosa!

The food is for eatinisen.

All this talk of grammar has reminded me of the time I called a co-worker a "Grammar Nazi." This is not proper workplace behavior, so I don't recommend it!

One day my coworker (we'll call him Gary), whose job was not "Technical Writer" (that was my job) sent an email to the entire office asking people to please proof their emails before they went out. At the end of the email, he'd spelled a word wrong.

Five minutes after receiving the ill-fated email, Gary came into my office, asking me if I'd gotten his email and what I thought about it. Slapping a plastic smile on my face and gritting my teeth, I just said "Yeah, great - thanks!" Gary left, looking very proud of himself.

Five minutes after that, I received another office-blast from Gary saying, "By the way, I spelled a word wrong and nobody noticed it."

Irate, by now, I quickly emailed Gary back, telling him that I had in fact noticed his error, but wasn't going to be a Grammar Nazi for internal emails. He then emailed back, assuming I was calling him a Grammar Nazi, and said he felt really bad.

Of course, then I felt bad that he felt bad. But, honestly, what was I supposed to do. He was basically insinuating that I was incompetent. Anyway, the lesson learned that day was don't call coworkers Grammar Nazis, or really anything Nazi. - It's a good general rule.

Lake Siiiide!

So yesterday was the start of the Nishi family reunion, and so my tribe and I headed on down to Lakeside, with our new tribal name - "Middle School Girls," on everyone's lips. We had our Mascot, Brian and Alison's little sister - Shannon, in tow.

Lakeside is a little amusement park by a lake. So, no, it's not just a clever name. We went on a few rides that I decided to give new names such as: "The claustrophobic's nightmare," "The jolty car accident," "the knee slammer," "The Puking Wheel," and "The Topsy Turvy Gut-Twister."

All in all, it was a fun time. Although, I gave Alison whip-lash when I got a little over-zealous in the bumper cars. I guess I always think that those rides are monitored or rigged so that no one can get hurt, but I proved that theory wrong. Of course, Timmy and I broke all the bumper car rules in the first 5 seconds of being there by doing a head-on collision immediately and then driving the wrong way around the track - whoopsy daisy.

Anyway, I'm heading home to the coffee shop to work some more. (yes, I call it home now)

Keeps it real! - david the NOME

Bored Beyond Belief

So, right now I'm sitting in a Banner training that hasn't started yet, but I've entitled this blog with anticipation for what awaits me!

Efficiency vs. Customer Service

So, the other day the-guy-I'm-seeing and I went to the movies. I think it was on Monday, so there weren't many movie goers. Prior to heading to our seats, I decided that I wanted to get some delicious popcorn and a coke to enhance my movie-going experience, if you will.

As I walked up to the counter, I noticed that there were about 15 registers. Tangent: Why do they have that many registers? You never see that many people attending them! So, since the popcorn/coke providers were hanging out (not behind any particular register), I simply chose one and approached. Apparently I had chosen the wrong one though, cause they didn't even look at me. Then another happy movie goer approached a different register and was promptly served. Growing all-the-wiser, I quickly got in line behind the girl who had chosen correctly, hoping to not be foiled again. Victory was mine as the young male attendant handed me my popcorn and coke. Since I never hold on to cash very long and was once again out, I used my credit card. With on swift move, the server swiped the card and handed me the receipt to sign without a word. As I reached for the receipt, without even a nod of acknowledgement that our transaction had concluded, he asked the person behind me what they wanted...

Now, perhaps I'm not being clear, which would be very hard to believe, but the point I was trying to make, is that there was no sort of customer service going on at this theater, but they were very efficient. The-guy-I'm-seeing seemed to think the efficiency trumped the customer service and was impressed. But I was left feeling like the attendant that I'd spent all that time with, talking about popcorn and coke didn't really care about me. I felt cold and alone and I don't think that my delicious popcorn and coke were quite as delicious because of it.

So, my question is, must we sacrifice customer service for efficiency? I think not!

Thong Th Thong Thong Thong

Okay, so to update all of you who were wondering whose the mystery thong was... it was mine! I'm not quite sure how it ended up in the camper. Oh wait, it was probably from when I was in there throwing my clothes wildly about by myself. I should probably stop doing that...probably.

In other news, I just found out that I have to have the first draft of my thesis done by August, so my blogs will be less verbose, since I'll be spending all my verbosity on my damn thesis - sonofa!

My weekend hype!

Ah, the weekend is upon us. Hurray! I suppose you're all wondering, "Naomi, what are going to do this weekend?" And if this is in fact your query, then you're in for a treat, because that is exactly the topic of my blog today!

So, to start off all the excitement, I'm going to be making Flan this afternoon for a dessert party tonight. Flan is a Spanish custard that's more eggy than my delicious creme brule and lower fat. You may be asking now, "Naomi, why are you making Flan instead of your world-renowned Delicious Creme Brule?" Well, I'll tell you. It's because this is for a dessert-party so I have to bring a communal dessert instead of the individualized creme brules. "Is that all?" you ask? Well, no. In fact, I have run out of propane in my torch and I can't seem to refill it, but not to worry, I'll figure it out eventually and will make the delicious creme brule again...

So, with Flan in hand, I'll be attending the dessert party at 8:00 with the rest of my urban tribe (Sunday Night Porn Club) - and we're using the word porn to mean any sort of entertainment. Under our definition, karaoke can be porn (especially if dirty-mouthed Stacy is there). Anyway, the dessert party should be fun. It's a couple event I think! So, that should be kinda funny. I'm not used to coupley things. What should I wear? skirt? pants? dress? tutu? Too many decisions already! But, at least I already have a dessert plan!

So, at this point in time, if I know you, and I think I do, you're wondering "Naomi! That's only what you're doing on Friday! There's a whole weekend after that that you haven't told us anything about!" And right you would be! So, on Saturday I plan to sleep in, go to starbucks, work on the minority report, lay in the sun, and then at night, go to karaoke (or porn if you want to use the tribal lingo).

So, that's about it. What? What's that you're asking? What am I doing on Sunday? All right, I'll go ahead and tell you. Sunday, I'll be mowing the lawn at the house I'm sitting and cleaning it up a bit before the family comes home (Henry, the cat, has made a mess of a whole thing of Q-tips) and Sunday afternoon, I'll be visiting my Somali Bantu family. I sure hope none of the kids put out an eye with the fireworks I brought them on the 4th of July.

And, that's my weekend, so stop asking already!

New place, land lord, golf, job, MBA, 4th of July, etc.

Welp, Yesterday Alison and I signed the lease for our new apartment. It's nice! It kinda has a Seattley feel to it. It has all hard wood floors and the wall in the living room is white brick. It's in walking/stumbling distance of our favorite karaoke bar, my favorite thesis-writing coffee shop, and another great burger-bar. We're still close enough to Wash park so that it'll be about a 4-miler to run there, around it, and back.

It'll be sad to see the IIC party house go, although not so sad to see the IIC party house land lord go. Yesterday he gave me a lecture on how we need to clean the house so it's spotless and he can show it to future tenants. I was like "I hate to break it to ya, Neil, but you're not really an authority figure in my life so spare me the chat. Just ask me to clean and it'll be done, sucka!" Okay, I didn't really say that, I just ignored him, but you could imagine if I did, eh?

In other news, the guy-I'm-dating got first in his first P.A.T. tournament yesterday (and no, I don't know what PAT stands for), so he's that much closer to being a pro! There were 45 people competing and apparently it's pretty rare for first-timers to place in the top 5. He rocks!

I thought that I was gonna get kicked out of my DMS job come fall for a new student, but found out today that since I'm a university staff member, not a student worker, they can't get rid of me until I want to go. So, I'm half-employed until I find something more substantial - hurray!

On that note, I was thinking today that maybe I should get an MBA, focusing on non-profit and small business-ownership. I don't think I'm ready to open up my own non-profit just yet, but I'm starting to envision youth-focused intercultural education center that works with schools and students and is research-based. I don't know, but I certainly can't afford to go back to school again now unless I never leave the DMS office and can use my tuition waiver :) But, I don't think I can afford that either...

I had a nice 4th, although I spent most of it driving around asking myself "What am I gonna do today?" until the day was over. But, I did manage to get uptown to a BBQ with my friend Kevin and his posse and then watched fireworks with the guy-I'm-dating from Castle Pines golf course - it was pretty!