January 13, 2010 · 9:33 pm

Driver’s License Update

Ok, so I admit it. I went and tried a second time to secure an acceptable driver’s license photo. And no it did not work out well…

AGAIN!

For those who have not read the beginning of this saga you can read about it here.

I know, give it up bee-otch. Maybe you really are that ugly. Maybe you do have the neck the size of a linebacker. But seriously, I really don’t look that bad in person.

Jana came home from school and decided that she, too, was not happy with her photo. (starting to see a pattern here?). The Monday between Christmas and New Year’s we lost our minds and were unconscious enough to not realize the entire universe was off that week and at least three-quarters of that said universe thought DMV biz was a good idea. So off we went to have the pictures taken and then sit on the bench watching the numbers roll by on the monitors for somewhere in the neighborhood of an hour and forty-five minutes. I know, what a lovely bonding afternoon for the reunited college girl and her mom. Hey, it was a great place to people watch.

Finally we get called up. She pays her 17 some odd dollars and then I go to my window.

Clerk: Can I have your old license please?

Me: Look at that picture! Isn’t it awful?

Clerk: Really, do you think anyone looks at these?

Me: C’mon, admit it is awful

Clerk: Does it REALLY matter?

Me: Ok, I am vain. There I admitted it.

Clerk: Thanks, that’s all I wanted from you.

I swear, that was the conversation. Then she proceeds to tell me that I do not have to pay because you have 6 months to keep retaking your photo for free.

Me: For real?!!

Clerk: Now, ma’am, please do not become a serial DMV photo taker.

Regarding the photo at the top of this post:

I was playing around with the Mac’s photobooth features and decided that posterized would be the preferable filter for me to use on all official documents. What do you think? Kind of babe-ish in this shot, right? In a maybe a you swallowed a lava lamp sort of way, but I kind of like it.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 12, 2010 · 10:45 pm

This little piggy

Teacup pigs have become all the rage lately and I am not going to lie, I sort of want one. How damn cute is this little thing? I decided to do a little research on them before I ran out and brought home another heartbeat to my house.

I learned these are not like teacup poodles. These critters can actually grow anywhere from 25-60 llbs. Hmmm, that could be like the size of my dog. Hey cute as a little piggy but getting a bit slovenly when tipping the scales at 60.

When I told Danny that I wanted one who told me he would feel kind of bad eating bacon in front of it. So we did a little more research and have decided to get a miniature horse instead.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 11, 2010 · 11:39 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – Miep Gies Dies at 100


Hero. A four letter word that seems too small to define this magnificent woman. As a Jew I am speechless in light of her courage. As a human being I am inspired to consider what is possible when character and morality outweigh fear.

Miep Gies defied Nazi occupiers and hid Anne Frank for two years. She was one of the non-jews who supplied food, books and hope to Anne, her family and four other jews. She was also responsible for saving Anne’s notebooks and papers – amongst them, her famous diary. Gies refused to read these in the spirit of preserving the teenager’s privacy. Wow! (a little levity, this woman was a non-Jew, hence not a Yenta).

When Anne died at 15 in the Bergen-Belsen camp in 1945, Gies gave the diary to the only survivor of the Frank family – Anne’s father Otto. After the diary was published Gies continually promoted causes of tolerance. A modest woman, she showed humility in light of her heroic actions, telling the AP before her 100th birthday that many had done the same or far more dangerous work. She believed she was only doing her human duty. At a time when genocide was the norm, this woman chose to be a human being in spite of the madness around her.

Wow again.

I like to think that Miep Gies was rewarded the gift of  such a long life because of her selfless behavior. For anyone who is starting to doubt the power of character, take a look at how this woman lived her life and you can’t help but have renewed faith.

RIP, Miep Gies. May you inspire generations to come with the way in which you lived your life.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 10, 2010 · 10:09 pm

Underground in their underwear or skivvies in the subway

The other night on Letterman I heard the funniest line:

If underwear was outlawed only outlaws would wear underwear.

Not sure why that struck me as so funny but it just did. Now here is another foundation garment related story that caught my attention. An event created by one of my favorite groups, Improv Everywhere – the 9th Annual No Pants Subway Ride. This event takes place in 44 locations in 16 countries! Their website claims an estimated 3,000 people participated in NYC. According to the New York Post article covering the event (which estimate the numbers closer to 700 – what is this Woodstock?), Improv Everywhere’s mission is to cause “scenes of chaos and joy in public places”. Bottomless subway riders surely fits that bill. My kind of group!

In my humble opinion, during these stressful times (aren’t you sick of that term already?) there just isn’t enough silliness in the world.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 9, 2010 · 12:10 am

No More Cover Bands

Ok, I don’t usually do this but I am making a New Year’s resolution. This one is for  you Dr. Jimmy.

I, Amy Z, commit to avoid cover bands in 2010. What brought this on? Tonight we ventured out in frigid temps to see a Grateful Dead cover band that we usually like. After paying the $10 cover (this was a real high end joint) we realized there was no heat. That left the crowd all wearing their coats. Not a good thing on suburban Long Island. Here is a list of things that are not ok, and tipped me over the edge to vow to see only original music in the foreseeable future:

1. Fur coats are completely unacceptable at a Grateful Dead cover band show.

2. Doubly not ok is a fur motorcycle jacket (what the hell!)

3. When 75% of the crowd has chemically straightened hair you are in trouble (and that could have been the guys).

4. Yentas and Grateful Dead music do not mix (oh, no, i hate when they play shugah magnoyah).

5. A man in his late 40’s should never under any circumstances play air guitar in front of other people.

AND, most unbearable

6. Listening to a cover band playing The Who, The Beatles and Warren Zevon in the Grateful Dead style is almost like having root canal. (of course not a root canal with Dr. Jimmy because he gives headphones, novacaine and nitrous)

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 7, 2010 · 8:55 pm

When Twitter is Down

So it happened tonight. To the dismay of those of us who use it as drug of choice/best time suck of all time the world’s most sophisticated social media types, twitter was so down that we were not even getting that cute little fail whale graphic. How did I find out? On Facebook, of course. The other place where online junkies get their fix favorite network of choice.

My guess was that since the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is going on right now all the geekiest of geeks most sophisticated technology types were jamming twitter and causing it to sporadically fail.

I did a quick Google search to find out what was up and came across my new favorite site. It is called whentwitterisdown.com and every time you refresh the screen you get a new message. It is kind of like web 2.0s version of the magic 8 ball with an attitude.

Here are some of my faves:

I love the last one. And for the record, I don’t have a cat!

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 6, 2010 · 9:37 pm

When Fit Hits the Shan and other Tales of Daily Living

One of those days. I would not classify it as a bad day, just a day on steroids.

Have you ever taken steroids? Not for athletic enhancement, more for respiratory stuff or maybe anti-inflammatory reasons. I was once on them for 6 weeks with pneumonia and my family threatened to move out. I remember my poor husband reading the side effects and thinking, check, check, check, oh frankly psychotic behavior? Big check!

There is a sense of hyper-vigilant edginess with a dollop of what next? A feeling that you are not sure what is going to be around the next corner and of course whatever it is it will become your problem to solve while your hands are full and you have to go to the bathroom but you don’t have time. Not to be confused with needing to cry but you don’t have time.

See? You see that rambling style of borderline insane banter? That is what I am talking about here.

Were all the problems of the day solved? Yeh, right? Tomorrow AM will be the solution hangover scramble. But I have confidence. I have been here before. Hoping I have this all worked out by noon.

Perhaps lazy being the new productive was the foreshadowing of just such a day.

(oh, kill me now, read definition number 2 on urbandictionary for fit hits the shan)

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 5, 2010 · 9:10 pm

Verizon Rocks

Seriously, you don’t hear that often, right? Always complaining about not getting what you need from giant Telecom? Well I would like to personally thank Veronica at Verizon customer service (no joke, I wonder if all the CS peops are alliterations), who felt my mom pain and allowed us an early upgrade on my daughter’s blackberry to an international Tour so she can BBM us from her semester abroad.

When does this happen? Um, hardly ever. For me anyway. It’s usually all sorts of fighting and carrying on to not get what you need. Thankfully Verizon recognized my family’s superior status as a quality customer and showed us some mercy. Either that or poor Veronica simply felt bad for me. Big Telecom with a personal touch, how lovely.

For those unfamiliar, BBM is Blackberry Messenger. This is like texting but it is internet-based and you do not pay per message. To translate that into dollars and cents, international texts, are 99 cents each, national are 54 cents. Let’s be conservative and assume she would only text the boyfriend three times a day (unlikely), her other assorted friends that she is traveling with 5 times a day, and us, well probably once a week or when there was a problem. That would be around $818 for the five months she is away. Yeh, crazy right? And those were conservative estimates.

These few little comments could have helped me get what we needed:

  1. Veronica, are you a mom? Ok, well imagine your daughter being in a foriegn country and not being able to stay in touch.
  2. You know Veronica, I am a rabid Apple user. I want an iphone more than anything but I won’t ever leave Verizon.
  3. What? You need to ask your supervisor? Oh, is she a mom? Tell her as a mom I would really appreciate her consideration on an early upgrade to help my family out.
  4. And my favorite of all times which really made her happy: Veronica, YOU ROCK MY WORLD!

The moral of this story? If you are persistent, personable and play on the mommy heartstrings you can usually move mountains. But you all new that already!

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 4, 2010 · 8:41 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – Say a little prayer

basketballwithmike

Ok, grab a tissue now because this one brought my whole family to tears.

High School sports. High stakes in the lives of young athletes who dedicate themselves to being the best they can be in order to play their game of choice in college. They switch schools, travel endlessly and make any sacrifice asked of them in order to realize their dream. They never quit and they never say die.

However, the tricky thing about sports is how in a split second the game can change. Not the game, but the GAME. The whole ball of wax sometimes hinges on a moment in time. This weekend we witnessed one such moment. Our boy (not our genetic one, but the one we choose) came down wrong on his ankle and was carried off the basketball court. In those minutes after the injury the shock, fear and anger was so thick you could cut it with a knife. And that was me, can you imagine how he and his real parents felt.

I have written about this young man before when his team won the state championship. (I recommend that you click that last link as his story is a great one – don’t worry, I will wait).

I am happy to report that with any luck the injury is hopefully only a sprain. But the pain in the heart runs way deeper with the realization that you just never know. I am a fatalist. And a coper. And that is fine when I am dealing with my own stuff, but when it comes to one of the kids – not so much. When you see a young person work so hard for something you want to see them succeed. And yes, the coping piece is a big lesson, but not today, k?

He is a trooper. Right after the ER visit he was sitting at the dinner table pounding cupcakes and cracking jokes, trying his best to suck it up when we all knew how hard this was for him. BTW, We were quite impressed with his skill of eating a cupcake whole in one bite. (oh to be 16!)

So, on this Time to Cry Tuesday, I want all of you out there who have ever had a dream – whatever your religious persuasion (and even you atheists) – say a little prayer for our guy to get back on that court again soon and play his heart out…

before he drives his mother absolutely crazy.

(had to use this picture again because I simply love it. The one on the right is my son)

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

 

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January 3, 2010 · 9:10 pm

A Striking Family Resemblance

Ever since my daughter has been home from school we have noticed that the dog is beginning to look quite a bit like her. What do you think?

Oh, Jana is the one with the glasses.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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