Tara's Anti-smoking Ad

As if the inevitability of lung cancer and the fact that you are inhaling tar isn't enough to keep you away, consider the financial investment smoking is. Have you ever noticed how expensive cigarette packs are? It's quite ridiculous, especially when you consider how much it will cost for medical bills for that hacking cough and the amputation of your vocal cords, and the dental bills to whiten up those stained pearly whites.

Then there are the social costs. The gross smell emanating from your clothes and your house keep the suitors away. And I can't imagine kissing a smoker--gross! Then there's the laws passed that alienate you from non-smokers condemning you to little glass rooms in airports where people can stare and shake their heads in disgust. And when you need a smoking break, which you will, you have to go to cold, dirty parking garages possibly risking your life (I know how people drive), or street corners outside the building, giving off the appearance of loiters or solicitors.

Then there's the just plain inconvenience of it all. Having to take three or four breaks a day to grab a smoke, being forced outside in all sorts of weather. Then for those who smoke while driving (and there's an alarming amount in Salt Lake who do this) it doesn't matter if it's 13 degrees outside and snowing, you have to drive with the window down. This fact alone would keep me from ever smoking. I value the heat in my car more than anything else (granted heat is about the only thing going for it as far as vanity and convenience is concerned). And imagine how bad it would be to have to have the window rolled down in the summer and suffering the hot wind blowing on your frying arm that stuck out the window. (I have a little taste of this since my black car doesn't have air conditioning.)

So if scary or funny commercials just aren't cutting it, consider the practical side of things and DON'T SMOKE. I will admit I have somewhat of a personal interest in this topic since the second-hand smoke I inhale could shorten my lifespan, too. And anyone who smokes and has a family, think of the children, and your spouse for that matter.

That is all.

Location, location, location

So, I'll admit, I wasn't overly thrilled to be living in Kearns because it has such a bad rap as being dangerous. Some of which is earned since questionable kids walk by my house on the way to school, and spray painting on fences is common, and this one time, when we got new carpet, I went to the park to use the bathroom because the one that we have in our house had carpet pieces propping it open and I have many issues regarding doors and bathrooms. . . anyway I totally got freaked out in the park by a bunch of kids who should have been in school who looked like a gang.

Well, despite all this, the more I live in my house, the more I realize that we are ridiculously close to anything we could ever need. We are right next to Jordan Landing, and the big shopping center on Redwood. There are fast food and restaurants all close by. Many a Walmart and Reams and Smiths are in the neighborhood. There's even a Home Depot I discovered the other day. Pretty much everyday that I drive home I see something else cool right down the street. There's a dollar movie down the road. It never ends. Talk about prime real estate. Nice.

Announcement (no I'm not pregnant)

But we do have a new addition-- we got a cat. A really cute orange and white male cat named Guido--as in the movie Cars. (Good show if you haven't seen it.) I was going to post this a few weeks ago when we got him, but had some picture difficulties, so expect some pics soon. He was sick when we got him from the Humane Society, so we didn't fully realize how strange he was, but it turns out he's crazy enough to fit right in. He loves people, the bathtub, and apparently, now the fireplace too. If he gets soot on my carpet, I will join Morgan and throw him out the window. I'm sure he wouldn't mind, he's been eyeing the snow and he'd land on his feet, so I might have to find another form of punishment. I'd totally lock him in the basement if I could, but the stairs have no door, so I'm stuck.

Anyway, more to come on that later.

And PS, not one single mouse problem since he arrived, yeah!

Stratford Hall

I need to get the word out. I've have put up with too much. My firm has been trying to get Christmas cards sent out, you know, before Christmas, and Statford Hall, the company we ordered them from has given us nothing but grief. They were slow with our order, so after many emails we discovered they needed confirmation. So we gave them an email confirmation and they sent us one back saying they recieved it and our order would be able to be printed and would get here on Tuesday. Then Monday, we checked the progress, and they hadn't even started printing yet because they hadn't recieved confirmation. So we got the office manager to take care of it for us after sending them everything they had already sent us. She got them to promise that they'd be ready in 48 hours and get to us by Thursday.

We found out yesterday that they were printed and on there way, so yes, they would be here Thursday, today, in the morning. Well, here it is noon and no cards. So we called again and they were received at 9 this morning by someone, but definitely not us. So after all this grief they can't even get our address right. And now we have to track down these cards so we can get them out by Friday. But when they get here it's not like we can just stuff envelopes and send them out, we have to get the attorney's to sign them first. That's 1,000 cards.

So don't ever purchase anything from Startford Hall. And don't let your friends either. Let's boycott, people, please!

Regrets

Have you ever just wanted to do something over? If you're like me, it's all the time. Anyway, we had a work party last night and I just wasn't my usual socially charming self. I don't know why. I was a little nervous, a little lost being there by myself, and overly eager. Isn't it strange how the more you want to impress people the less you do. Well I didn't really relax, and said some stupid stuff. Not really insulting, I hope, but just stupid. I was going for charming and I ended up looking like a goof and a spaz. Which is a shame since I was hoping to be able to hang out with some of the people outside of work. But that might not happen. My husband normally reigns in my subconscious desire to freak people out, but he was gone, and I didn't do so good on my own. Let's redo this one . . . please. Some of these people could fire me and all of them I still have to work with. Why do we even have work parties? At least the food was good.

iPOD ranting

You know how when you were walking down the street a few years ago the only people wearing headphones were people out jogging or exercising, and now everyone wears them . . . yeah that's annoying.

I really don't like iPODs. And those Blue Tooth cell phone head sets either for that matter. What's wrong with using walking time to be able to think. I think we're afraid of reflection. Heaven forbid we should know any more about ourselves. We live in a world were you can live without any human contact--we text message on phones more than actually hearing someone's voice, which is the closest to human contact we get some days, we have instant messagers that let us survive relationships with roommates because we don't actually have to talk to them, and we can do all our shopping online, which cuts out the brief contact with clerks in stores--and yet, with all this time we spend "alone", we are not really alone because will fill that emptiness with so much noise that we can't think. What are we so afraid of?

And we we are at home and not surfing the web, there's always TV because books require too much brain power. We have to imagine scenarios and we might actually relate to a character that could give us insight into ourselves.

Now, lets be honest, though I'm not a hypocrite with the iPODs (I don't own one), I do watch TV, probably more than I should. But I read a novel a week on average, so I don't feel unentitled to my little rant. Thanks for reading.

Mouse Problems

So there's mice in my house. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but they're mostly in the basement. They have come up to the main floor a few times, but when my husband had to scare one away that got too close to us while we were watching tv, that's when I decided that getting a cat might not be a bad idea. True, both of us would prefer to get a dog, but a cat will be good with us not being home like ever. It won't hate us, and will appreciate it's independence and house-ownership.

But it just gets worse . . . the other day, I came home went to get some dinner, opened the silverware drawer to get a fork, and noticed that the chopsticks and toothpicks that I keep in there were shreaded and splintered. Then, I noticed the mouse droppings in my measuring spoons. Gross!! So a mouse with a taste for wood apparently found a way to climb into the top drawer right below the counter and eat and poop! Needless to say, we thoroughly washed everything in the drawer, threw out the wood, and cleaned it. But we are getting a cat before Christmas. An orange cat named Guido.