Category Archives: Just my Thoughts

28 November 2011

Advent Thoughts

By Nicki

This is the first in a series of four posts on the liturgical season of Advent.

 

Yesterday began the Advent season in the Roman Catholic church. Growing up I was not Catholic but Episcopalian so I am use to Advent as a liturgical season but many people do not recognize this period of waiting for Christ to be born.

In the church, there are two periods of waiting and anticipation. Advent is the first as the new church year begins with Advent. Lent is the other and is the anticipation of Christ rising. Back to Advent.

As I do on most first Advent Sundays, I looked for two items. The first is for me, personally. Many years ago I bought a copy of a book that is meant to be read throughout Advent. I bought it closer to Christmas that first year. I packed it away , not thinking I could read from that date forward. The next time I brought it out during Advent was in 2001.

Advent of 2001 was a prayerful time for me. I was concerned as three of my children were flying in December. They were headed to a Catholic youth conference that had been scheduled for a month earlier but postponed, cancellation was a possibility, because of the attacks on New York and Washington in September. This national conference was in Indianapolis this year and would draw over 30,000 Catholic teens from around the US. Many in charge thought it would be a perfect target for additional attacks. I was just worried about plane travel at that point in time.

I knew that this trip, if it happened, was a pray and let it go to God trip. Nothing I did as a mother or an adult was going to make a difference in the experience or the outcome. So I took my kids to the airport and did just that – prayed and let it go to God.

Ten years later I still remember pulling out Anders’ book every morning the kids were gone and reading and praying for all those who were in attendance – the teens, their chaperones, the priests, those who would get them there and back safely.

1 comment   |  tags: , | posted in Family, Just my Thoughts

22 November 2011

Black Friday

By Nicki

Back in 2007, I wrote a post on Black Friday. At that time, I swore I was finished with shopping but did end out going to purchase one item at a home improvement store so not as bad as a toy store but still. I also made some mention of Cyber Monday and Black Friday back in 2006. This was more facts and figures.

 

This year I am back to writing about Black Friday. I am proposing a total boycott of the shopping day. Trust me! The deals will be bigger and better some other day in the future. Why am I proposing this? First, I am annoyed. I am actually beyond annoyed. At the same time, I am thankful – thankful I no longer work in retail as I would not only be working but would be responsible for ruining many other people’s holidays.

 

Black Friday. Let’s take this apart. Black – as in when the retail businesses who participate in this ludicrous day go from being in the red to turning a profit. Not necessarily totally true but that is the general premise of why this particular Friday is black. The premise is far from the use of black when associating it with Monday as that was the stock crash day in 1929 and again, I believe, in 1987. Friday – as in the day of the week. Not Thursday, Friday!

 

There in lies my agitation. I am annoyed that sales that started at 6 am, then 5 am, then 4 am are now starting at midnight or worse, on Thursday. Let’s take the shocked look on my face when I saw the Thanksgiving and Black Friday hours at my local Old Navy. They are open 10 am to 4 pm on Thanksgiving day and will open again at 11 pm for Black Friday. Last I knew, 11 pm was still Thursday.

 

I strongly suggest you all support, as hard as it is for me to wrap my head around this term since it was started by American Express which is not exactly a small business, Small Business Saturday and stay home with family and extra day. Boycott Black Friday!

2 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

21 November 2011

Tram Challenge – A Race Recap

By Nicki

I ran a fantastic race while I was out in California. I discovered the Palm Springs Tram Challenge, a 6K run/walk that had a 2000 foot elevation increase, online. Since I would not have a car constantly at my discretion while in the area, I emailed my stepfather – the trip was still a surprise for my mother – to see if he thought it would be okay if I ran it. The weekend of the race was the weekend of my mother’s birthday. Many other people were coming in for the birthday party so I wanted to be sure this would not be a problem.

With the okay from him, I decided I was going to do the race.

Friday afternoon, Tom and I headed to Palm Springs. I have always thought of my mom and step dad as living in the Palm Springs area. I didn’t realize that they were 30 miles away from Palm Springs. Tom had programmed the GPS for the store address that was holding packet pick up. Off we went for me to pick up my bib and then, the two of us where going to the tram area. This would allow me to check out the route and then go up the actual tram.

The story of the tram ride and the subsequent visit to a state park will come in the future. For now, let me say that driving up the road the incline did not seem bad. Yes, it was a bit ominous that there were signs that warned cars to turn off their air conditioning to prevent overheating. Yes, I noticed the sign that indicated 1000 feet in elevation and then 2000 feet in elevation. (Just an FYI, the house where Mom and Tom live is at about 45 feet in elevation.)

News reports were showing that there were over 900 people registered for the race. 824 finished. I estimated, prior to the run, even though it was only 3.7 miles that I would take one hour to finish.

The morning of the race Tom and I set out for Palm Springs before it was light out. He parked in the Carl’s Jr lot as the instructions said to do. I got out and got my heart rate monitor on and made a conscious decision to not run with my phone which was going to be my camera. Tom took a couple photos and I was on the bus, heading to the start.

The sunrise as I was waiting for the race to start was absolutely beautiful. I don’t know if it is the lack of humidity in the desert air or the mountains that we were near but the colors were brilliant and wonderful. I was really annoyed with myself that I had decided to not run with my phone. A photo would have been great.

This year was the 26th running of this particular race. I have to say that it rivals any that I have run as the best organized. Even the day of registration was well organized. There were bags at the registration so if you wanted to shed some clothing and have it taken to the end of the race. The temperature was around 60 that morning when the race started at 8 am. The high for the day was suppose to be over 85. I was concerned about the heat but it was okay.

The first two miles of the race seemed to go by quickly. All of the print materials said to be careful as the beginning was the easy part. The 12% grade didn’t come until closer to mile 3 and the last bit of the race was at a 14% grade. The accent was not the problem with this race. Breathing was. Little did I know that I am most likely allergic to cats. Having spent the last five days in a house with three cats, I could barely breath as I was going up that hill. People often ask if running in the cold causes my lungs to burn. I constantly say no. I have never felt that burning feeling in my lungs until this race. I ended up walking a good portion of the last 1.7 miles. I ran when I could and for that little dip that occurred. I laughed hysterically at the sign that said here come the easy part. At the end of the slight downhill, there was another sign that said easy part is over. As I said to another runner, obviously humor put there by someone driving a car.


I was close to one hour and could see the finish line. I tried my hardest to pick up my pace but the steeper it was, the harder that was. I couldn’t do it. My Garmin’s official finish time one hour and four seconds. The race’s official time one hour and 21 seconds. I am happy with that.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Fitness, Just my Thoughts

18 November 2011

Travel Tidbits 3

By Nicki

While I would gladly sit in the airport and just bury my head in my computer, the commuter gates at Dulles are not where there is an abundance of outlets or charging stations. Because of this, I thought my computer was going to have to be turned off due to the battery running out. Then, an airline employee who was charging a cell phone had to go back to work and I just slid over to that set of seats and plugged in to the outlet.

I was not the only person who experienced these issues. As I was chatting with my son in Buffalo online, I looked over to find two twenty somethings sitting on the floor near another outlet. Both were talking away on their cell phones with said phones plugged into the outlet. Needless to say, a few more outlets or more than one Samsung Charging Station in this area would be helpful. While there may only be six A gates, each gate has six letters associated with it so a lot of little commuter planes fly in and out of each A gate.
As I was waiting for the plane to board, I was approached by a woman who was in the same boarding area. This boarding area was for gate A4 but there would be, in about a half hour’s time, six different commuter flights taking off from that gate. She was wondering, as we had both been there waiting approximately the same amount of time, if I was going to Dayton, Ohio. I told her no and explained where I was going. It is always nice to have someone to watch bags that you may trust, even though you do not know them all that well. Carting a purse and a carry-on into the restrooms is just a pain in the butt.

She was a small woman. When I had been using my computer early on in the layover, she had been curled up in a chair and was asleep. While I may have been exhausted, I could no more sleep in these chairs than sleep walking. They were not even comfortable to sit in so I could not imagine sleeping in them.

Later, as the boarding area filled up more – six flights with approximately 36 available seats on each is a lot of people, we began speaking with a man whose bags noted “crew.” He had started the day in Switzerland and was a flight attendant. He was flying standby to Columbus, Ohio, to visit relatives. His home, and I presume his home base for flights, was Jacksonville, Florida. He had some interesting stories to tell about his time crossing the Atlantic earlier that day and being in first class. The woman who was heading to Dayton and I listened, although we both admitted we would need a lot of luck to get an upgrade to that area of the plane. Evidently, those flying in areas other than economy tend to think they are rock stars. Have you heard of the riders rock stars put on their contracts – specific waters kept at certain temperatures, that type of thing? At least one passenger wanted a beverage served with one ice cube.

Another standby flight attendant told of flying into Dulles – or should I say Richmond – earlier that day. The flight bound from Columbus to Dulles was diverted to Richmond due to fog and the inability to land. The woman needed to get to Charlottesville, Virginia. She ended up renting a car to get there in time from Richmond.

Needless to say, I enjoyed my flights tremendously. I would recommend everyone fly now and then. Be very flexible in your plans and your travel will be fantastic.

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17 November 2011

State Championships

By Nicki

My children go to a school that is known for its academics, a school that is known for its music program and a school that is known for its sports. When you consider the high school – where sports are played most – has approximately 800 students, it is a miracle that there is more than one program where students excel. In programs like Science Olympiad, it is hard as students are generally in everything, taking AP classes while playing in the band and participating in sports.

The state championship games are coming around this month for fall sports. In this school district of approximately 2,600 students, the following teams are into the semi-finals in the state championships: boys’ soccer, football, and field hockey. On top of that the cross country team placed seventh at the state meet and is going to the federation – which, if I remember correctly, is a combination of both public and private schools – meet this coming weekend.

Just seven short years ago, my second born was playing on the varsity football team. The team went undefeated and won the state championship game. I remember the work that the boys put in practicing. I remember the work the parents put in supporting the team. I remember some very good high school football. I also remember injuries, lots of injuries and some at not convenient times.

As the boys and girls at Maine-Endwell continue on their championship journey, I wish all the teams and their coaching staffs good luck.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Board of Education, Just my Thoughts, School Sports, Sports

16 November 2011

Travel Tidbits 2

By Nicki

As flawless as my travel east to the west was, my flights going home, west to east, were as bad as the travel out was good. I traveled in both directions with no specific plans on the day of arrival. Because of this, when airlines were looking for someone to bump – of the six flights I was on, all but one was oversold – I was more than happy to offer myself to be bumped. If I were getting compensated for so, I was more than willing to change my travel plans.

The oversold flights from my trip west continued with a 5:49 am flight out of Palm Springs. I did let them know that I was more than willing to fly on a later flight. Much to her credit, the airline employee’s major concern was that I would be getting into Binghamton about midnight. I assured her this was not a problem and I did not live far from the airport. Given that the snow of the week before was gone and weather in Binghamton was forecast to be in the mid-60’s, I was not concerned about flying into BGM late. It ended up that the seat was not needed as several people did not check in.

My sister had been very concerned that I did not have much time between my flights into and out of LAX. I was truly not at all concerned. The smaller plane out of Palm Springs landed at Gate 82 in Terminal 8 and the Boeing 777 flew out of Gate 76 in Terminal 7. I managed to go to the restroom, get a latte and still make boarding of my plane. Little did I know that I should not have bought the food for lunch as I would be in the airport again before long.

I bought some fruit and a large bottle of water at Starbucks along with my gingerbread latte. Starbucks was so nice that they put the food in a small brown bag. Being totally unsure if someone would give me grief for a purse, a laptop bag and the bag of food, I combined items into my other two bags prior to boarding.

After filling the Boeing 777 full to the brim, the captain came on the PA system and said there was a small mechanical problem and our 7:47 am takeoff would be pushed back to 8:30. I knew I had a little over two hours at Dulles to make my next connection so I figured that a 45 minute delay would not be an issue. About five minutes later, the captain came on again. The mechanical repair would take until 9:30. Everyone was to deplane and wait in the airport. Please take anything of value with you were the final tidbits he said. I decided, even though it was bulky, to take both my purse and laptop bag off with me. I was hoping for free WiFi but did not get it there.

As the plane re-boarded, there were several that were not with us any longer. The young Swede who was on the aisle near me had been put on a different flight to be sure he would not miss his connection in Dulles. Still, the customer service people did not move everyone. I had asked to get a seat on the later flight out of Dulles that I already knew was available due to my volunteering in Palm Springs. The representative did not want to do it. I did finally get him to hold me a seat “just in case.”

Since the woman who was seated next to me was ending her travel at Dulles, she was still on the flight. As the four hour plus flight went on, I was very happy the Swede was no longer there as this woman was a mover. I don’t think she sat still the entire time she was on the plane. She would fidget and move constantly. I was happy she had decided to sit in the aisle seat and not her assigned middle seat. I opted to play Bejeweled 2 on the seat back touch screen most of the flight, off and on.

Let me warn you about Dulles. The commuter flights that are operated by small regional airlines but are under a larger airline umbrella fly in and out of the A gates. Not a big deal except that there are only two ways to get to these gates – a shuttle meant to go to the D gates and a train that runs every 2.5 minutes to the main terminal. The shuttle runs during certain blocks of time when those commuter flights are arriving or departing. If you have a tight connection, you may not be able to use the shuttle and may have to take a bus to the main terminal and then the train to the A gates. This is what cost me making my connection on the way home.

Of course, an unexpected four hour delay in my flight home left me with some great people watching time. More later.

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15 November 2011

Daylight Saving Time

By Nicki

Just a warning. I know this is late. This is what travel does when it is around the changing of the clocks.

What time is it? Can you tell by looking out the window or door? Can you tell by the apparent darkness or lightness of the sky? Probably not at this particular moment because if you are in the majority of the United States, you just changed from Daylight Saving Time to standard time.
The weird thing is there are states in the US that do not utilize DST. Arizona and Hawaii do not change to DST at all. There is also a portion of the state of Indiana that is a bit odd. This portion is in the Central Time Zone while the remainder of the state is in the Eastern Time Zone. That small portion does not change to Daylight Saving Time.

I guess my question is why use DST at all. Or, as many at this particular moment in time would ask, why not keep the clocks on DST as standard time?

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12 November 2011

Real Moms Love to Eat – A Book Review

By Nicki

How is your relationship with food? I know when I get in one of those funks about what I “have” to eat to stay healthy and what I “want” to eat to make myself happy, I want to talk out my thoughts with a good friend. That good friend attitude is what I found when I picked up Beth Aldrich’s Real Moms Love to Eat. The tone of this book drew me in faster than a good mystery and I love a good mystery.

The first section of the book is all about the Real Moms Love to Eat plan. Each chapter has five simple items or action steps for you to use in that week. Most of these are things that you have heard for a long time, such as getting rid of high fructose corn syrup in your diet. The thing is that it is not a huge list to tackle all at once. Please pardon the pun but the to-dos are in bite size pieces.

I am very excited about the amount of time Beth spends on salt. I crave salty items frequently. I also frequently give in to my cravings. Beth talks about changing your table salt as gourmet salts add more flavor. Also, she gives several recommendations for differing spices to use in your home to add more flavor to your food.

Beth also talks about raw foods. I have to admit I have frequently thought about eating raw but have been a bit apprehensive. It seems a bit drastic to me. After reading about raw, I am now thinking it is a much easier alternative that will allow me to eat some foods I really should ignore.

As any busy mom knows, we can read about an eating plan all we want. If it takes too much time to work it into our lives, it is going in the trash can. The second part of Real Moms Love to Eat is all about how to make it work in your life, how to make it fit. This section may be more important than the actual eating plan. Once you read it and see how easy it will be to put the plan into your life, you will want to go back and re-read the plan again. Perspective is everything and this chapter puts it in perspective.

Once you have read how to fit the plan into your life, there is a section that is actually the plan in practice. In this section, Beth actually gives you a three week plan to follow. The plan continues menus for three meals a day and snacks. There are recipes for the menu items. The book ends with a short “letter” from Beth. Throughout the entire book, Aldrich continues to sound like a good friend who is just telling you what works for her and how she sees it working for you.

 

You can currently find out more about Real Moms Love to Eat at www.realmomslovetoeat.com and you can preorder by clicking here.

 

I was given a free galley copy of the book to read for review purposes. I also received a goodie box that had a lot of fantastic sponsor foods in it. The opinion of the book is all mine, not at all influenced by these.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Book Reviews, Just my Thoughts

8 November 2011

Traveling Tidbits & Late Winners

By Nicki

I just spent two weeks in the desert southwest. My mom lives near Palm Springs, California and I went out to celebrate her seventieth birthday. Getting to that area from the small Southern Tier of New York town that I live in is never easy but I managed to get there with limited plane changes.

 

Since my sister booked my flight, I had little control over where I was flying but was more than willing to go to several airports if necessary. I had only one request. I did not want to fly through Cincinnati again. The last time I flew out to that area, my flight went through Cincinnati and it was a horrible experience.  No Cinci this time.

 

The flights two weeks ago to Palm Springs were totally uneventful. I flew from Binghamton to Washington/Dulles to Denver to Palm Springs. My puddle jumper from Binghamton to Dulles was early getting in. This allowed me the ability to catch the shuttle from Gate A area to Gate D area. After my flight home, I realized how nice this was and how lucky I was as the shuttle runs strange times. I had, due to the early arrival, almost a full four hours to kill in Dulles which I did online most of the time.

 

I spent some time chatting with a wind turbine technician. While this is not work I would want to do, he was very into his work and even had plotted out a “plan” as to the areas he wants to work in next. This connection was a bit weird as Palm Springs has a huge wind turbine farm.

 

There was the man with many cell phones. I was sitting near the Samsung Charging Station as my Windows laptop has a limited battery life. I did want to be able to get online in Denver so wanted to charge instead of just using battery. There was a man there who had four different cell phones plugged into the charging station. This took all the outlets and I was just amazed. Eventually, someone asked him if he could unplug one or more so someone else could charge items. I just laughed. Imagine being so important you need that many cell phones. Either that or he has multiple relationships and a different phone number for each.

 

Denver seemed to be a very long airport. Remember I come in on a big plane from Dulles. I arrived at Gate 32 and departed at Gate 94. I kept walking and walking. If I had known exactly where I was going, I might have stopped for dinner sooner but I was a bit unsure so I waited  until I spotted the gate before settling a sandwich.

 

The story associated with Denver is all about the one flight attendant on the flight. There was a small baby on the flight. I was in row 2. The baby was in the back of a plane that seated approximately 50. The baby started crying before we even took off and the parents were having little or no luck getting the child to stop crying. The flight attendant looked at those of us up front and said she didn’t know what we were going to do about that baby but she was staying up front. I laughed to myself but damned if that woman made only one trip to the back of the plane. The rest of the time she inventoried whatever was around in the galley and didn’t go back there again.

 

That was my trip west. The return trip was not so great so will wait until another day. For now I want to let the winners of the cards from Shutterfly know who they are are. I will be contacting you tomorrow with your code.

Debbie

Andrea

couponboss

Congratulations to you all!!!

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Family, Just my Thoughts

22 October 2011

Visiting Shooting for the Show

By Nicki

I am heading out for a full day of high school homecoming activities today. Throw into that mix a re-dedication of our newly remodeled high school and it is going to be a busy Saturday. To keep you all up on what I am doing, I had a guest post yesterday at Shooting for the Show. Go visit my friend Justin’s blog about college and minor league hockey and read a piece I did on Binghamton finally getting a championship.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Collegiate Sports, Just my Thoughts, Professional Sports, Sports

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