Exciting announcement! Jorge is a dad! Little Phoenix was born last night, weighing in at 8 pounds. Everyone is doing well, and mom is recooperating after a tough labor. Congratulations to our president on this wonderful news!
Liz
Friday, March 28, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Chickens and the Multi-Talented
Wow, it has been a long time, friends! Too long. And I'm afraid it will get worse before it gets better, as we have entered the beginning of our long busy season here in our little office.
First things first, the most important development is that Leigh's baby finally made HER appearance to the world on Friday, January 11th. Lovely Elizabeth was born a few days past due, weighing in at a terrific 9 lbs, 5 oz. Mom and Dad and little one are all doing well and we've all been to visit, of course! Leigh actually brought her by just this week, and she is already growing and strong. So exciting!
Well, back to today and our always lively discussions. As usual, things started off with discussions of entertainment, in this case, television. A certain faction of our group (myself included) were very excited that just one week from today our favorite show, LOST, comes back with new episodes! Earl and Claire, meanwhile, confessed that they had watched the new show "Moment of Truth," where contestants answer questions while strapped to a lie detector, all to win big money. We debated for a while as to the merits of watching such a show (sample quote from me: "Congratulations, you now have no soul.") and considered that perhaps the money contestants won could be put towards the lawsuits and divorce proceedings they would most likely have to go through on account of their "honesty."
This devolved into a discussion of how one could "fool" a polygraph - like the character in Ocean's 13 stepping on a tack. From there we moved to other types of tests - drug tests, breathalyzers - and how one might also fool these tests. Marie was eating something with poppyseeds, prompting a warning that they could actually cause a positive result on a drug test. (Ryan corroborated this fact by remarking that it had been proven true on "Mythbusters.")
Talking about drug tests caused half the crowd to dissolve into quoting lines from our other favorite show, "The Office." Shannon, who doesn't watch the show, said quietly while observing us, "It's like another language."
Somehow this led to Marie running off to her desk to print out a joke that W sent to her. We were a little alarmed when she came back with about 5 sheets of paper ("How long is this joke!?!") but soon were giggling at the various celebrity "answers" to the age-old question, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" We pondered how others at our table would answer the question: Earl would ask how much it was going to cost for the chicken to cross the road, Webster's answer would be full of long words we didn't understand, etc.
After the chicken banter died down, we switched gears and talked about the continuing sad news of actor Heath Ledger's death. Marie mentioned that she'd had Brokeback Mountain in her Netflix queue for a while, and that since his death, the wait list had grown even more.
This led to an open discussion of movies we had or hadn't seen recently. I mentioned that my husband had gone to see Cloverfield, and gave it a "meh" review. We digressed into monster and scary movies of other kinds. Marie polled the group as to whether Jurassic Park was too scary for her kids to see. The general consensus was probably so, especially since the younger one had recently been frightened at an outdoor showing of E.T. at a local theatre.
From there the conversation turned to where else one could see outdoor movies shown locally. Shannon piped up that she and her husband had gone to see a movie at a "lawnchair" theatre in a quaint little country hamlet located near our city. I teased that along with your movie you could probably get some good ole' moonshine, too. Jorge followed up with a joke about "those darn Duke boys."
...which prompted Marie to mention that that was another movie she never saw, The Dukes of Hazzard, which prompted Deasy to offer her opinion on which Duke boy was the cutest, which somehow prompted someone else to bring up another buddy-team television show from that era, "Starsky & Hutch." Jorge and Marie wracked their brains trying to remember the name of the hit song that Hutch (actor David Soul) had recorded.
And THAT, my friends, is how we segued into our final topic of the day, which was actors who have crossed over into singing careers (or the other way around). We covered the good, the bad, and the mediocre (most fell into the latter category).
At long last, W dropped in for a visit and immediately knew the answer to the song title in question... "Don't Give Up On Us." Of course!
First things first, the most important development is that Leigh's baby finally made HER appearance to the world on Friday, January 11th. Lovely Elizabeth was born a few days past due, weighing in at a terrific 9 lbs, 5 oz. Mom and Dad and little one are all doing well and we've all been to visit, of course! Leigh actually brought her by just this week, and she is already growing and strong. So exciting!
Well, back to today and our always lively discussions. As usual, things started off with discussions of entertainment, in this case, television. A certain faction of our group (myself included) were very excited that just one week from today our favorite show, LOST, comes back with new episodes! Earl and Claire, meanwhile, confessed that they had watched the new show "Moment of Truth," where contestants answer questions while strapped to a lie detector, all to win big money. We debated for a while as to the merits of watching such a show (sample quote from me: "Congratulations, you now have no soul.") and considered that perhaps the money contestants won could be put towards the lawsuits and divorce proceedings they would most likely have to go through on account of their "honesty."
This devolved into a discussion of how one could "fool" a polygraph - like the character in Ocean's 13 stepping on a tack. From there we moved to other types of tests - drug tests, breathalyzers - and how one might also fool these tests. Marie was eating something with poppyseeds, prompting a warning that they could actually cause a positive result on a drug test. (Ryan corroborated this fact by remarking that it had been proven true on "Mythbusters.")
Talking about drug tests caused half the crowd to dissolve into quoting lines from our other favorite show, "The Office." Shannon, who doesn't watch the show, said quietly while observing us, "It's like another language."
Somehow this led to Marie running off to her desk to print out a joke that W sent to her. We were a little alarmed when she came back with about 5 sheets of paper ("How long is this joke!?!") but soon were giggling at the various celebrity "answers" to the age-old question, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" We pondered how others at our table would answer the question: Earl would ask how much it was going to cost for the chicken to cross the road, Webster's answer would be full of long words we didn't understand, etc.
After the chicken banter died down, we switched gears and talked about the continuing sad news of actor Heath Ledger's death. Marie mentioned that she'd had Brokeback Mountain in her Netflix queue for a while, and that since his death, the wait list had grown even more.
This led to an open discussion of movies we had or hadn't seen recently. I mentioned that my husband had gone to see Cloverfield, and gave it a "meh" review. We digressed into monster and scary movies of other kinds. Marie polled the group as to whether Jurassic Park was too scary for her kids to see. The general consensus was probably so, especially since the younger one had recently been frightened at an outdoor showing of E.T. at a local theatre.
From there the conversation turned to where else one could see outdoor movies shown locally. Shannon piped up that she and her husband had gone to see a movie at a "lawnchair" theatre in a quaint little country hamlet located near our city. I teased that along with your movie you could probably get some good ole' moonshine, too. Jorge followed up with a joke about "those darn Duke boys."
...which prompted Marie to mention that that was another movie she never saw, The Dukes of Hazzard, which prompted Deasy to offer her opinion on which Duke boy was the cutest, which somehow prompted someone else to bring up another buddy-team television show from that era, "Starsky & Hutch." Jorge and Marie wracked their brains trying to remember the name of the hit song that Hutch (actor David Soul) had recorded.
And THAT, my friends, is how we segued into our final topic of the day, which was actors who have crossed over into singing careers (or the other way around). We covered the good, the bad, and the mediocre (most fell into the latter category).
At long last, W dropped in for a visit and immediately knew the answer to the song title in question... "Don't Give Up On Us." Of course!
And that is how a very long and VERY involved lunch club came to an end.
Until next time,
Liz
Friday, January 4, 2008
Does anyone need to make a movement??
Happy New Year Lunch Clubbers! It's Lynn here!
This new year at our office began with bittersweet feelings. Sadly, we had to say good-bye to our favorite Mommy-to-be, Leigh. Although we will miss her greatly, she is now taking the time to focus on preparing for the little one who will be joining us shortly. We are currently 2 days post-due date, so we will be meeting him or her any moment now! I'm not sure who is anticipating the new bundle of joy more, Leigh or the rest of our staff. It's a close one!!
That was the "bitter" part of our bittersweet new year, but the "sweet" part is just as exciting! We have now welcomed a new lunch clubber to the team, who is taking over for Leigh's position. Her name is Claire, and we are so pleased and excited to have her with us! Although Claire has only been with us for a few days, we already know that she will be an important asset to our staff. And she has been a great addition to our lunch club as well! We will have her posting the blog in no time! :-)
Today's lunch club was about as random as it could be. We began by talking about Grant, who has been a dear, dear friend of our staff for over 30 years. Grant is truly a "man of all trades," having done everything from being a janitor to a midwife! We were recalling countless memories we had with Grant doing everything he could to help us with random tasks, which caused us to notice several similarities between him and our very own Earl. Although Earl has a specific job at our organization, he also tends to take on various odd tasks and jobs in an effort to make our office cleaner, safer, and more efficiant. Earl and a few other clubbers told us a story about when he first started working here and there was a plumbing "situation." Earl called a plumber to come and clean out the pipes, and gave us a riveting impression of the plumber, who insisted on not only showing Earl the various unmentionables he had found in the sewer lines, but also describing, in great detail, what each item was and where it came from. That story reminded Earl of when he had first moved into his house with his family. Earl and his wife had chosen to upgrade their wood floors, so naturally Earl was very cautious and protective of this great investment. One morning, he came downstairs to find a small puddle of water seeping through the floor from the bathroom. Panic ridden, he immedietely called to have it taken care of. In order to determine the cause of the overflow, the plumbers watched the sewer opening in the culdesac intensely, trying to track the flow of, umm, substances, through the pipes. After watching for some time, one of the plumbers came to Earl's door, stood there with a very serious and intent expression on his face, with a large cigar hanging out of his mouth, and said, "Does anyone need to make a movement? We need something to track." Not sure how to respond, Earl calmly replied "No thanks, we're good." Needless to say, the plumbers were still able to fix the pipes, and Earl's new floor escaped with barely a hint of damage.
One last thing before we close for today. The day we have long anticipated has finally arrived. Tomorrow afternoon, in a small church located in a small town not far from our small office, our very own Ryan will finally be married to his lovely fiance, Danae. We are all so excited for them and cannot wait to be there to share in the joy of their wedding!
Until next time,
Lynn
This new year at our office began with bittersweet feelings. Sadly, we had to say good-bye to our favorite Mommy-to-be, Leigh. Although we will miss her greatly, she is now taking the time to focus on preparing for the little one who will be joining us shortly. We are currently 2 days post-due date, so we will be meeting him or her any moment now! I'm not sure who is anticipating the new bundle of joy more, Leigh or the rest of our staff. It's a close one!!
That was the "bitter" part of our bittersweet new year, but the "sweet" part is just as exciting! We have now welcomed a new lunch clubber to the team, who is taking over for Leigh's position. Her name is Claire, and we are so pleased and excited to have her with us! Although Claire has only been with us for a few days, we already know that she will be an important asset to our staff. And she has been a great addition to our lunch club as well! We will have her posting the blog in no time! :-)
Today's lunch club was about as random as it could be. We began by talking about Grant, who has been a dear, dear friend of our staff for over 30 years. Grant is truly a "man of all trades," having done everything from being a janitor to a midwife! We were recalling countless memories we had with Grant doing everything he could to help us with random tasks, which caused us to notice several similarities between him and our very own Earl. Although Earl has a specific job at our organization, he also tends to take on various odd tasks and jobs in an effort to make our office cleaner, safer, and more efficiant. Earl and a few other clubbers told us a story about when he first started working here and there was a plumbing "situation." Earl called a plumber to come and clean out the pipes, and gave us a riveting impression of the plumber, who insisted on not only showing Earl the various unmentionables he had found in the sewer lines, but also describing, in great detail, what each item was and where it came from. That story reminded Earl of when he had first moved into his house with his family. Earl and his wife had chosen to upgrade their wood floors, so naturally Earl was very cautious and protective of this great investment. One morning, he came downstairs to find a small puddle of water seeping through the floor from the bathroom. Panic ridden, he immedietely called to have it taken care of. In order to determine the cause of the overflow, the plumbers watched the sewer opening in the culdesac intensely, trying to track the flow of, umm, substances, through the pipes. After watching for some time, one of the plumbers came to Earl's door, stood there with a very serious and intent expression on his face, with a large cigar hanging out of his mouth, and said, "Does anyone need to make a movement? We need something to track." Not sure how to respond, Earl calmly replied "No thanks, we're good." Needless to say, the plumbers were still able to fix the pipes, and Earl's new floor escaped with barely a hint of damage.
One last thing before we close for today. The day we have long anticipated has finally arrived. Tomorrow afternoon, in a small church located in a small town not far from our small office, our very own Ryan will finally be married to his lovely fiance, Danae. We are all so excited for them and cannot wait to be there to share in the joy of their wedding!
Until next time,
Lynn
Friday, December 21, 2007
Merry Christmas from the Club!
Just wanted to post quickly to say Merry Christmas from the lunch club! Our office is closed next week, so we'll be back in posting mode after New Years.
Today was a bittersweet day, with it being Leigh's last day. She is leaving us to go have her little one... he/she could come any day now!
It was only fitting that today's last lunch club with her would cover, what else, one of the less glamorous parts of childbearing... episiotimies! If you don't know what an episiotomy is, just... google it. Anyway, Leigh was arguing against the routine use of this procedure, and that the natural tearing was no more harmful, and in many cases has a less painful recovery. Of course banter ensued, and the boys were simultaneously intrigued and disturbed. I tried to find the most mainstream, least biased opinion I could, and according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Leigh is right on! This organization made a statement last year that episiotomies were far too often used, and that, while there may be a few instances where it might be necessary, their general use should be curbed: http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr03-31-06-2.cfm
Moving on from that topic we went on to television and movies. We're all still disappointed and fussy about the strike of the writers guild. I think for the most part we are on their side but we still miss our shows! We talked about how individual production companies are allowed to negotiate with the guild, and what if anything would cause one of the majors to break rank with the others and try to negotiate their own deal. Stephen suggested that if it comes to the point where the Academy Awards don't happen because of the strike, that might be enough to break the production companies. Stay tuned... you can visit http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com for updates on the strike.
Our attention shifted to movies and I don't quite remember how, but we ended up dogging on Ryan because it seemed like he had a bone to pick with every movie we mentioned! The quote of the day came about as one of us summarized/mocked his commentary on Passion of the Christ and The Nativity Story: "So according to Ryan, Jesus wasn't bloody enough and Mary was a Muslim." His actual comments were that he thought people had overhyped the violence in Passion of the Christ and that he had heard the girl who played Mary in The Nativity Story was a Muslim. The generalization was much funnier. :)
Our lunch wound down to an end after that, as we all scurried back to our offices to tie up all the loose ends before our long break!
So from all of us at lunch club to all of you out there, have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Today was a bittersweet day, with it being Leigh's last day. She is leaving us to go have her little one... he/she could come any day now!
It was only fitting that today's last lunch club with her would cover, what else, one of the less glamorous parts of childbearing... episiotimies! If you don't know what an episiotomy is, just... google it. Anyway, Leigh was arguing against the routine use of this procedure, and that the natural tearing was no more harmful, and in many cases has a less painful recovery. Of course banter ensued, and the boys were simultaneously intrigued and disturbed. I tried to find the most mainstream, least biased opinion I could, and according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Leigh is right on! This organization made a statement last year that episiotomies were far too often used, and that, while there may be a few instances where it might be necessary, their general use should be curbed: http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr03-31-06-2.cfm
Moving on from that topic we went on to television and movies. We're all still disappointed and fussy about the strike of the writers guild. I think for the most part we are on their side but we still miss our shows! We talked about how individual production companies are allowed to negotiate with the guild, and what if anything would cause one of the majors to break rank with the others and try to negotiate their own deal. Stephen suggested that if it comes to the point where the Academy Awards don't happen because of the strike, that might be enough to break the production companies. Stay tuned... you can visit http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com for updates on the strike.
Our attention shifted to movies and I don't quite remember how, but we ended up dogging on Ryan because it seemed like he had a bone to pick with every movie we mentioned! The quote of the day came about as one of us summarized/mocked his commentary on Passion of the Christ and The Nativity Story: "So according to Ryan, Jesus wasn't bloody enough and Mary was a Muslim." His actual comments were that he thought people had overhyped the violence in Passion of the Christ and that he had heard the girl who played Mary in The Nativity Story was a Muslim. The generalization was much funnier. :)
Our lunch wound down to an end after that, as we all scurried back to our offices to tie up all the loose ends before our long break!
So from all of us at lunch club to all of you out there, have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Secret Santa Reveal!
For the past two weeks we have been playing a game of good ole Secret Santa here in our office. I saw we, but a few party poopers decided not to participate... we gave them a hard time, of course! But I suppose I understand their reasons, and they still helped by playing elves or surrogate santas for people who were out of town.
Anyway, today at lunch club was the final reveal, where we each took turns guessing who had been giving us gifts. Leigh and Lynn had done copious amounts of spying and notetaking and had what ended up being a fairly accurate list of their guesses for the whole staff. Except for a few, everyone was pretty much at a loss as to who their santa was. I guessed correctly that Andres was my santa - pretty impressive since he spent most of the last week out of the country. (Turns out Ryan was doing his deliveries.) I received, amongst other things, a cookie cookbook, which should come in handy, and a horse calendar, which took me right back to middle school. I mean high school. I mean now. I still love horses, okay?!
Jorge's santa was revealed to be Anne, who had worked diligently to create several handmade basketball ornaments for him. Jorge had also mentioned that he wanted an over-the-door nerf basketball hoop like Stephen got last year - and Anne delivered again. Such a good little elf, that one!
Anne's santa turned out to be intern Christine, who had delivered her gifts with a sense of humor, including one printed essay on the history of the bagel.
Beth received her goodies from Jorge, including a spectacular liquid-sensitive light-up shot glass.
Leigh's secret santa was Webster, which she deduced due to the fact that a poem accompanied her gifts and in it big words were used. Clearly a mark of the Webster.
Anyway, we had a great time with the reveal. For the rest of lunch club we mostly bopped around from topic to topic, including of course the impending arrival of Leigh's little one. Only one more week til we all leave for Christmas break, and so we selfishly want the baby to be born before we leave as opposed to while we are gone! To her credit, Leigh has been an awesome pregnant lady to be around... in a good mood and of course full of interesting information. We know she'll make a great mama!
Well, that is all for today!
Fondly,
Liz
Monday, December 10, 2007
Merry Merry Birthday!
Welcome back to all our lunch clubbers! We return to the blogging world after a brief hiatus. Today is of course a Monday morning, but not your typical Monday morning because we get to celebrate my birthday today!! Leigh here. Birthday's at our non-descript office are always a joyous occasion. We love to celebrate each other, and what better day than the day we were born? I came in this morning to a desk adorned with Christmas lights, pictures of goats, and baby's with cloth bums. :) Thank you to all my co-workers. How did I know that I'd have goats incorporated into my birthday somehow??
For my birthday lunch, I decided to order Thai food. Lynn did as well, but unfortunately the restaurant gave her the complete wrong dish! I then alluded to the language barrier between the restaurant and ourselves closing with, "Poor them". Ryan, of course, chimed in with, "Poor them?". Well, I'm sure you can guess the rest of his comments. Some of which were correct such as, if you open a business in an English speaking country you might want to learn English. But I was saying in their defense, I've been to a country where I was the minority and could not speak the native language. Although my stay was just as a tourist, people treated me differently and not always good. I do have a new perspective on being a "foreigner"; we are all foreign to somewhere and should show patience! Anyway, easy for me to say... they got my order right!!
On to much more exciting conversation! Ryan just realized that his wedding is about 3 weeks away. Ryan, aren't you counting down the days?? Don't boys wait for this day their whole lives with anticipation? As far as Ryan and Jorge are concerned, "Um... no". Ok, well said. Jorge even went as far to say, "The day is really all about the girl anyway. You walk down the aisle, I walk out the side door." Good point. Sounds a little bitter though, right? Now we know how he really feels!
So I don't know about you, but weddings make me think about another lovely topic... BABIES!! If you ask Ryan when a baby is written into his newly married plan, he'll tell you 5 years, if not more. I know what you're thinking, FIVE YEARS?? I have a feeling it will happen sooner than that. But anyway, I was telling everyone how I heard a commercial this weekend about a birth control that will keep you infertile for 5 years! If you wanted to reverse it, it would be no problem, but it could potentially last for 5 years. Apparently the doctor has to implant it into the upper arm. I personally don't like the idea of birth control at all, but Ryan said, "There are no side effects." No, not at all. Except for the verbal warning on the commercial that states, "Ovarian cysts may occur but usually go away." Hmm.. wonder what the fine print says.
Well, that's about it for today's lunch highlights. Time to get ready for our wonderful company Christmas party tonight located at the home of Webster and his lovely wife. It shall be a time for good food, good company, and good cheer! See you all next time.
Leigh.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Politics and Drool
I guess it’s my turn again – Shannon, that is. Today’s lunch club had a unique feel as we gathered in Andre’s office and sat in a cozy circle on the floor. Our normal spot was overtaken by some very important meeting (only a couple clubbers were unfortunate enough to have to attend), but that didn’t stop the Lunch Club! As we found our spots on the floor, I removed my boots much to Jorge’s horror. I assured him that my feet don’t sweat, and therefore do not stink – but I don’t think he was comforted.
Our conversations today were all over the board once again. I kind of think that the Lunch Club is much like that well known children’s book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie....for example: we started talking about our evenings last night. I asked if anyone had watched the republican presidential debate (I had), which of course spurred a discussion about the next election…which evoked a question of whether or not a woman should/could ever be president (the main consensus was ‘no’ in case you were wondering)…which lead to a discussion as to what role Bill Clinton would play should Hillary be elected president…which lead to a really lame intern joke by Steven with a ph (sorry Steve-o, but it was pretty lame). Are you starting to see the similarities between us and the children’s book?
At some point the conversation turned to zombie movies which Ryan & Jorge discussed with fervor. Liz mentioned her recent disappointment in Stephen’s movie taste when he told her he thought the classic movie The Sandlot was (and I quote) “just okay.” A brief frenzy of disbelief/shock/horror broke out at that point, to which Jorge responded, “You’re killin’ me, Smalls!” Liz & Lynn thought perhaps Stephen’s lack of approval towards the film was perhaps due in part to something in his childhood…but they didn’t get much farther than that.
Before lunch officially ended, Anne brought up the exciting office topic of Secret Santa’s – which we are drawing for tomorrow. Oliver, Ryan, and myself have chosen not to participate this year and once Anne found out, we were interrogated. Ryan’s defense was his wedding – as always – and Oliver and I just tried to explain our dislike of this particular Holiday tradition. We don’t like trinkets – shopping for them or receiving them. Seems like a good enough reason to abstain, don’t you think? I’m not sure Anne was satisfied with that answer.
Before I wrap this up for the day, I believe I was supposed to include some comment I made about hating drool. In all honesty, I don’t remember the particular comment – I just hate drool. I’m sure you understand. Until next time....
Our conversations today were all over the board once again. I kind of think that the Lunch Club is much like that well known children’s book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie....for example: we started talking about our evenings last night. I asked if anyone had watched the republican presidential debate (I had), which of course spurred a discussion about the next election…which evoked a question of whether or not a woman should/could ever be president (the main consensus was ‘no’ in case you were wondering)…which lead to a discussion as to what role Bill Clinton would play should Hillary be elected president…which lead to a really lame intern joke by Steven with a ph (sorry Steve-o, but it was pretty lame). Are you starting to see the similarities between us and the children’s book?
At some point the conversation turned to zombie movies which Ryan & Jorge discussed with fervor. Liz mentioned her recent disappointment in Stephen’s movie taste when he told her he thought the classic movie The Sandlot was (and I quote) “just okay.” A brief frenzy of disbelief/shock/horror broke out at that point, to which Jorge responded, “You’re killin’ me, Smalls!” Liz & Lynn thought perhaps Stephen’s lack of approval towards the film was perhaps due in part to something in his childhood…but they didn’t get much farther than that.
Before lunch officially ended, Anne brought up the exciting office topic of Secret Santa’s – which we are drawing for tomorrow. Oliver, Ryan, and myself have chosen not to participate this year and once Anne found out, we were interrogated. Ryan’s defense was his wedding – as always – and Oliver and I just tried to explain our dislike of this particular Holiday tradition. We don’t like trinkets – shopping for them or receiving them. Seems like a good enough reason to abstain, don’t you think? I’m not sure Anne was satisfied with that answer.
Before I wrap this up for the day, I believe I was supposed to include some comment I made about hating drool. In all honesty, I don’t remember the particular comment – I just hate drool. I’m sure you understand. Until next time....
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