All About the Grind

I wish I could be talking about coffee, which is a yummy kind of grind.

There is a chap in my office who is rather pleasant, even if he sleeps through most of the day. He gets away with it because he is friends with Adolf. I choose my words carefully around him, as I'm certain some of the things I say get back to Adolf.

Just last week, we were talking about some of the work I do and I mentioned the parts that annoy me (like the fact that they scream when I don't answer the voice mail and yet I've never had a voice mail back-up for the four years I've been tasked with it). I'm pretty sure this found its way to Adolf, because I came back from my long weekend to an e-mail asking for voice mail instructions so Adolf can designate a back-up when I'm not here. The only thing I can say is: finally!

For the record, I have asked about that before, and the fact that there was no back-up has come up before. It's most noticeable when I take whole weeks off.

In addition to finally getting a voice mail back-up, I also answer an e-mail alias for merchants and someone was designated as back-up for that. Now, answering the e-mail requires a bit of diplomacy (just like the phone) and it is sometimes more complex than just hitting the reply button. If we don't "reply to all" the other people on the alias don't know it's been done. Some of these e-mails come in from other departments, so if we only hit "reply" or "reply to all" the original requester does not get the response. My back-up person has not comprehended this.

An e-mail went to the two of us this morning, clearly stating that the e-mail is one of my primary tasks and who the back-up person is for it. A few e-mails came in during the day. I replied to them, and got an e-mail from the back-up stating they were done an hour ago. Of course, not everyone was copied and the fact that I was primary was simply ignored.

I don't mind if this other person takes the task. I don't mind if I keep it. But we need to be on the same page here. I'm the one who looks like an idiot if I go behind someone who should not have done the work in the first place. Adolf promised to clear that up.

Take a simple thing, and someone will turn it into something difficult!

Calcite Crazy

The problem with someone like me going to a place like Luray Caverns is that I love that place. I end up with hundreds of pictures to sort through, each with some wonderful thing about it. Then, I must limit myself to sharing only a handful of those images with you, because I just don't have enough space to share all of them.

This is called dream lake. It is actually stalactites that are reflecting on about half an inch of still water. Quite the optical illusion.



This well-known calcite flowstone formation is known as Titania's Veil.

This bit of translucent drapery formation is part of the Saracen's Tent, said to be the most perfect drapery formation yet discovered.

Here is one of the mechanical hammers that make up the stalacpipe organ. Sound is produced when little hammers gently tap a stalactite, causing it to vibrate and produce a note. It is part of the largest musical instrument in the world.

When the explorers first strolled through the caverns with not much more than a few candle lanterns to light their way, they didn't realize that their path crossed itself several times. This column, named Pluto's Ghost for the Roman god of the underworld, appeared several times on their journey. Walking through the caverns with a much better lighting system, it is still easy to see how those explorers may have thought the ghost of an angry or curious god was following them.

Turtle hadn't been to the caverns in years. We didn't have time to hit the National Firearms Museum like we wanted, but this was the main draw for the day anyway. We learned that the cooler months are the best time to come; tours of twenty or more are reduced to six, and the three gift shops on site are running massive sales. It was a great day, and a great time spent with my friend.

Out We Go

Turtle got here in the afternoon, so we went to the Air and Space Museum that's right over here in Chantilly. The first part was an observation tower where you could watch planes take off and land from Dulles International Airport and hear the communications between pilots and air traffic controllers. It was neat.



The center was set up like a big hangar. In addition to the many cool aircraft, they had missiles on display as well. Like this one:

There was a space hangar too. It had satellites and an R2-D2 mailbox and the first Enterprise.

No outing with Turtle would be complete without a crazy picture of one of us doing something crazy. We weren't sure what this thing was, but this seemed to fit.

They had a Concord and the Spirit of Columbia and the Winnie Mae and the most awesome SR-71 Blackbird.

It was a great way to spend an evening.

Raid

The raid on the attic worked well enough (though, somehow my stocking was not among the plethora of stuff). We'll try to get our tree this weekend.

Today, we have business at the ministry, and hopefully, we'll get home in time to have a nice walk.

Turtle is coming to visit tomorrow. Fun! The plan, which I've yet to run by her completely, is to go to the Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center, Luray Caverns, and maybe take in the National Firearms Museum. Most of these are pretty local (except Luray), so it should be fun.

The Possibilities

Since Phoenix has been sick, though she is finally getting some much-needed meds, our plans for today may change.

We are going to have a live Yule tree this year. Miss Luna has never had one, I think she'll be climbing her little heart out. Nevertheless, we're getting a tree. That will likely be next weeks' task.

For today, we were planning on raiding my parent's attic for old decorations that they've long stopped using. My family stopped getting live trees and started going with fake ones for a while. Then, we stopped getting trees altogether. They were pretty, but it was a hassle. It will save us quite a bit of money if we can take what my parents don't use to decorate our tree. Hopefully, Phoenix is still up for doing that today.

The other thing is the Annual Antietam National Battlefield Memorial Illumination. It is quite a moving thing to see acres and acres covered in 23,000 candles for each casualty or the battle. It is a process to go, and Phoenix and I may not be up for it. We'll have to see.

Rehash

Three years ago, I wrote this post about the retail trend we see this time of year to either embrace or reject any number of winter holidays. It's going to happen every year, I think. There is no end to this debate until people start to accept that their faith is not the only one and they need to not be offended if they hear about another. Freedom of religion does not equal freedom from other religions, nor was it ever meant to.

So, if you are atheist, I would imagine this time of year is quite annoying. You need to accept that it is important to the majority of people around you.

If you are Christian, you need to accept that many of your neighbors are not and they don't hold the same meaning for this time as you.

If you are any number of pagan faiths that celebrate the winter solstice (which, and let's be fair, is the true reason for the season), you need to remember that many people simply don't know and it's not right to punish them for their ignorance.

If you are Jewish, you need to accept that.... You know, I don't think the Jews need to accept their side of things at all. See, Hanukkah often gets overlooked or pushed aside because there are just so many more Christmasers out there. The Jewish holiday is not ignored; it just doesn't get a front seat. I usually see one end cap in a store dedicated to special Hanukkah items. That's progress, but you don't have to accept it. Stand up, Jews, for your very special holiday! Don't let Christmas overpower what really happened on those miraculous nights!

And, if you are not Christian, you need to accept that many people are, and this is a big, important time for them.

Truly, this is an important time for many people, for a variety of reasons. In this wonderful country, we need to be aware of that. We need to not get offended if we hear the word "Christmas," for we all know that Christmas happens around this time. We need to shake our heads sadly when we don't hear references to Yule or Hanukkah. And for goodness sake, we need to accept that some people are tying to cover everyone with "Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays" (which often include Thanksgiving and New Year's) and therefore commend them for the effort.

Maybe they should just stick to the day? On December 24th and 25th, it's ok to say Merry Christmas. On December 21st, how about wishing us a Happy Yule or Solstice? Hey, and starting December 21st, you could even wish us a Happy Hanukkah (and don't forget that on the 24th and 25th too). Any day where an actual holiday is not taking place, stick with the generic. It's not an actual holiday after all, it's a day within a season. That's a fair compromise.

I still believe what I said three years ago: that I'd rather hear what is important to you than suffer through you trying to guess what is important to me.

Now, this came up because I read an article this morning about the issue. I'm going to go somewhere else with this, and this is one point that I must say does upset me. An individual from Focus on the Family (a Christian organization) was quoted in this article as saying one of the group's efforts is to make sure retailers are not calling a Christmas tree a holiday tree. Christians, I would really like to know, what in the world does bringing a tree inside your home and decorating it have to do with celebrating the birth of the Christ? Seriously, there was no tree in the manger. Why must you be so adamant that a tradition that was not yours to begin with be slapped with your specific label? If it had significance to your holiday, I could understand it, but it doesn't. If you think it does, give me a Bible reference. The thing that puts the tree practice into the realm of your holiday is a completely unrelated tradition that took place during the time of the winter solstice long before the birth of the Christ was celebrated during that time. By the way, some people still celebrate that tradition, or a revival of it, or something somewhat related to it or based on it. So, shut up about your Christmas tree and give it back to the pagans who started the mess. It's not our fault that converts couldn't let go of it, but it has nothing to do with what you celebrate during this time of year.

That's all for my soapbox today.

One Set Back

One of our neighbors has a beautiful white cat. She found her way to our door the first time she got out and Phoenix and I just loved her. Her owners were looking for her and we (somewhat reluctantly) sent her home with them. The second time she got out, she found her way to our door again. We once again brought her back home. She was outside again this morning, pathetically mewing because she didn't want to be outside. She was not near the door when I left for work, or I would have brought her in.

We live by a busy roadway and the cat does occasionally venture towards the road. We would be so sad if she met an untimely end because her owners couldn't keep her inside. Remember that fox I saw? It would be very sad if she became dinner. We didn't see her when we got home and can only hope that she is safe with her owners.

The second time she got out (and she's been outside several times since though I haven't seen her, other neighbors have), Phoenix and I declared we would keep her if she came our way again. There are several factors that helped us with that conclusion: the two dangers I've already mentioned, the fact that the cat clearly does not want to be outside because of how she screams when she is, and that only one of the pair of owners seems to care about her at all. The biggest problem with taking on another cat is that she likes to sit in the window. Eventually, she will and people will see her and know we stole someone's cat. Whether they are worthy or capable of caring for her is irrelevant.

I hope she got home. Next time I run into one of the owners, I will be sure to remind them about the dangers of the road and the fox and ask that they be more careful. If I learn she is intentionally let outside, I will have no qualms about keeping her. Unless she's tattooed or microchipped, they couldn't prove it was their cat.

No Title Today

When thinking about what to write, I couldn't settle on anything. Most of my thoughts went to work: how they have to remind people to dress professionally when important visitors are coming, how new employees get offended when they do something wrong and have to be corrected to the point of quitting like they're children, or the myriad of times that management and peons don't agree as in the case of our old database program and how the new one isn't nearly as user friendly. (Of course, for the last one, management doesn't actually work in the program so of course they're not going to understand how great the old one was.)

Then I thought about the awesome sunset I saw last night over the distant mountains. And how incredibly cute and affectionate my kitty was being when I got home.

I could also talk about how sick poor Phoenix has been, and how she started coughing a little blood and thought she might have developed strep throat. Thankfully, it was negative on the strep test and she came away with some nice antibiotics to get rid of her non-viral bronchitis. That should be good.

Yeah, I guess today was just a hodgepodge of everything.

What Would You Ask

Alright, pet owners (and other people who might have an opinion), if you moved and had to find a new veterinarian, what sort of questions would you ask a prospective doctor?

Miss Luna isn't due for her shots for another few months or so, so I have some time to find a place. I've heard it's good to have one before it's needed. But, this is all new to me. I've never had to look for a vet before. I've always taken my animals to the same doctor. Even if I hadn't moved, he retired, so I would need to find a new place anyway. I may scoff at doctors for me, but I don't skimp on care for my pets (except for one time when I put off going to the doctor because I hoped the problem would clear up on its own).

So, what would you ask a prospective veterinarian? What would you want to know about a prospective animal clinic?

Discoveries

In the midst of planning something, I found a list of state symbols. Since moving to Virginia, I learned that unakite is unofficially the state stone (Virginia has not adopted a state mineral/rock/stone/gemstone, but many consider it to be unakite, as it is found naturally in the Blue Ridge Mountains). I learned this morning that Maryland has a state gemstone, declared only a few years ago. It is called the Patuxent River Stone, and it is a unique and native agate.

This stone is described as having brilliant reds and yellows and contains bone-like structures. I haven't found any place turning the stones into jewelry or beads yet, but I'll be on the lookout for that. It also makes me wish it was kayaking season again, as I'm ready to scour the rocky landings of the Patuxent to chance finding such a stone. I do plan to go on the Patuxent River sojourn this year. Maybe I can learn more about this rock.

I think I'll always be an Marylander at heart.