Blame it on The Ex-Ex-Ex-Ex-Ex-Ex-ecutive Training!

Please believe me when I tell you that by now, I had planned to have a plethora of different topics, interests and general opinions penned to The Pack for 2012, but you know what they say about our plans and God’s funny bone (oh you don’t?  Well basically, When WE make plans, GOD laughs…and likely calls over Jesus, St. Paul, Mother Teresa and MLK, Jr. to watch our sitcom-ic lives unfold over a bucket over heavenly popped corn).

The simple truth is that while announcement meetings and org charts have not been official rolled out, I’ve been working tireless within the last couple of months with my management team to embody a more executive role at work.  And as exciting as this potential opportunity appears to be, I can say that I miss the notion of coming home (when there is still daylight) and decompressing with you all through my blog posts.

But hey, until this whole “writing gig” takes off and affords me the independently wealthy status to be able to work for myself (and own a bell wearing, tights donning Elizabethan court minstrel…I’ve always wanted a minstrel), then the majority of my no-longer-free-time won’t be spent perfecting my subject-verb agreement but will instead be about me being the chick that is honing her skills in and out of the boardroom!

Let us pray….

Rage Against The Machine: Where’s Wiki?

Call me frugal.  Call me a sponge.  But as thirsty as I am for free knowledge, ever since I discovered the internet and packed away my Encyclopedia Britannica set, Wikipedia has been my go-to source for a quick reference on just about EVERYTHING!

Now, as sucky as it is that Jimmy Wales has blacked out the internet encyclopedia site for 24-hours today in protest of the proposed congressional legislation known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (aka SOPA), I do “get it”.

I mean really, if today was to give us all a taste of what could happen if big government were to decide that it would be responsible for regulating the way that the free and open internet was managed…well, “suck” again comes to mind.

So, if you feel like me OR you just want to ensure that your congressional representative is actually doing his or her job in representing your interests, then click here and you too can rage with Wiki.

I’m (Not) Every Woman!

You ever feel like you are doing SO much, yet actually getting nothing done at all?

Oh. I’m the only one then?

Well, that is absolutely what I have been going through over these past few weeks.  It doesn’t matter how many bake sale cookies I produce, overtime hours I work, wrestling matches or AAU tourneys I attend; I just can’t mark everything off my everlasting “to do” list.  And if you know me, then you already know that I am awaiting God’s answer to my petition for 4 more hours of sunlight, as there are certainly not enough hours in the day!

Even late last week, I forgot to send my kid to school with the supplies she needed to begin a project that must be completed by tomorrow; I had to adjust my schedule to include a business dinner that I didn’t add to my calendar a month ago when I accepted the invitation and after two month of rescheduling his appointments, I had to ask my mother to take The Baby Child to his doctor’s appointment, where he ended up needing four shots!

Talk about Jesus being a fence!  And an anti-anxiety agent.  And a 32 oz. Calgon container.

Tiffany FAIL!

With December almost half-over, I’ve been quite apprehensive to even log onto The Pack to check the daily readership stats, especially since I’ve not posted anything of substance since late November.  Still, thanks to those of you who have at least “peeked” in to see if I’ve had an opportunity to either, vent, complain or enlighten.

This time of year has proven to be uber-busy for me (what, with counting down until Holiday Vacation, remembering sizes, scratching gifts off the lists, taking Christmas Photos and mailing holiday cards) but I promise that I will try to do and be better.

Might Not Be Smarter Than A Fifth Grader

You guys are going to have to forgive my short post tonight. Sitting out at another of the Big Boy’s football practices, the Big Girl pleaded with me that she be allowed to tag along so that I could help her with her math homework. Figuring that I could kill two birds with one stone, I acquiesed but reminded her to bring her classwork along so we could use what she learned in school today as a point of reference.

Well folks, for all the honors I graduated with, and as smart as I believed myself to be, I promise you I had to have a CTJ (Come to Jesus) moment or two when working with this child on her homework. Graphical inputs and outputs? Metric conversion without a reference table? Factor Puzzles? C’mon man (Keyshawn Johnson voice)! What happened to products and quotients; fractions and equations?

Now don’t get me wrong, my nephew is tackling High School Geometry right now, so compared to his “new math” this is a cake walk…but still. It’s like in this day and age, the school system is determined to school not only the child, but the parent as well.

You guys, I’m revisiting primary school all over again, sheesh!

Obama’s Jobs Speech: What I Want to Hear

It’s amazing to me that with a national unemployment rate teetering at just over 9% that anyone would be averse to having some immediate discourse about the economy and ways in which all the President’s horses and all the President’s men can get America back on the right track again.

But unfortunately, whether it be the Speaker of the House dissing him in favor of the radically absurd pow-pow disguised as a Republican Presidential Candidates Debate or the 8:30 p.m. kick-off time for the National Football League’s season opener, this week President Obama has pretty much had to get in where he’s been able to fit in to share his ideas on the economy with the American people.

In a little less than ten minutes, Mr. Obama plans to address a joint session of Congress (who ironically, are all are gainfully employed) as well as the citizens of this nation to present his speech on job creation. In it, the POTUS is expected to discuss a package roll out, that if passes the house will cut unemployment by at least a point, boost the GDP and cost half of what the dogged 2009 stimulus plan did.

But like many Americans who are out of work, have depleted their savings and are worried about the long term, my question to Mr. Obama is “how” does he plan to make this all work, and is it too late for him to even try?

Although late in coming, tonight there are a few key points that I am looking for the POTUS to address:

Like, what specifically has lead to the fundamentals of our economy being so feeble, especially in light of the fact that we are “technically” two years out of the recession. And what sectors will see the greatest benefit of this “don’t-call-it-a-stimulus-plan?” Also, what sort of infrastructure jobs can we be looking to see created? Or, what does this plan do to the Federal Deficit? Lastly, when can Americans plan to see this package implemented?

Sure, there are a whole host of other questions I’d love to see answered (how can America afford a several billion dollar job package when we just had to raise our debt ceiling to pay our bills, what’s the likelihood that this plan will have bipartisanship backing, what will happen to the current payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits in light of this new package…), but I figure if the President at least attempts to address these key inquiries, in my mind, I’ll feel like this national conversation on jobs and the economy is more than just lip service or an attempt to pacify me until 2012.

We’ll see…

Another Housewife Bites the Dust

In all of last week’s excitement (you know, the shaking, quaking and wet & wild weather), I didn’t get the opportunity to mention the reason for my recent state of mourning.

Of all of the Georgia peaches who televise their lives, relationships and business endeavors for the sake of free publicity and a steady income stream, I never thought in a million years that I’d be talking about the split of The Hartwells. But alas, a few weekends ago, Lisa Wu Hartwell took to Twitter (publicist smublicist) to announce the saddening news in shorthand:

“Sadly. We r separated but wld NEVER b over money.  That is so far frm the truth. Wish ppl cld respect ppl’s privacy during times like these.”

But for as fond of Lisa as I am out of all the original RHOA cast, when I read that social media release, I wanted to thump her right in between the eyes!  Two things here: firstly, not to discount the effectiveness of social media for instantaneous updates and fast circulation of news (think #ArabSpring, #OsamaBinLadenDeath, #BeyoncesBabyAlreadyHasABetterCreditScoreThanYours) but how does one complain about the lack of privacy during the difficult time surrounding one’s separation, yet announces such an event on Twitter?  Secondly, as cost effective as sharing the news would be sans a publicist’s statement, treating the stalling and uncertainty of a marriage as a 140-character exposé seems more than a bit indelicate to me.  In her defense though, it seemed that effective reasoning eventually struck, because Lisa did delete the Twitter posting the following Monday.

Seriously though, with the shock of Eric Snow stepping out on Deshawn, the hot mess that was first Kim & Big Papa, then the hasty shift to her NFL Baller baby daddy, NeNe and Greg’s explosive martial fallout, the death of Kandi’s fiancé AJ, Sheree’s continuous battle for acceptable spousal and child support and Phaedra and Apollo’s legal-slash-white collar collaboration, Lisa Wu Hartwell and her former NFLer hubby Ed Hartwell seemed to be the most stable and quite honestly, the most endearing couple in Atlanta at 10pm on Sunday nights.

During the two seasons that the show gave us all a sneak peek at the charming couple living the fabulous life back in 2008 and 2009 though, the Hartwells were working through some financial hardships, as they filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Protection just one year prior in 2007.  They would later lose their home to foreclosure in 2009 (what Lisa described on the show as “downsizing”).  But although she dismissed financial matters as reason for the separation, I’m sure that many of her fans and skeptics alike are wondering if there could be any truth behind the speculations.

Personally, I am hoping for the best for Lisa and Ed, and wishing for a reconciliation between the two.  And not only because I enjoyed their on-air chemistry (selfish, I know).  In reality, a big part of my reasoning (their happiness notwithstanding) is because I’d hate for Bravo to look at yet another pair of reality stars tanking at marriage and end up producing the new Franchise, “Real Alimony Recipients of [insert city here]”.

Spare the Rod, Rotten Toddler

I can always count on my mom and the Baby Child to humor me when I need it most.

Coming home from work yesterday, my mom peeked out from my kitchen and thanked me for finally coming home. “Your child was the worst today!” Snatching up her bag and cellphone, she fussed over her shoulder that he refused to take his nap and that he was sassing her all day.

I tried to express to my mom that the Baby Child always got away with murder with her because she refused to properly discipline him and she knew it.  Sputtering, she told me that she popped him regularly when he misbehaved, then she called in the Big Girl to confirm it.

After me and the Big Girl laughed at her attempt to convince us that she was a disciplinarian, my mom stomped her foot and huffed away.  A few moments later, the Baby Child came bounding into the kitchen (clearly at her cajoling) and prepared to set the record straight:

“Hi Mom-ma. Yayah spanked me 49 times today!”

I don’t know what’s worse; a fibbing toddler or the influence of his ridiculous grandmother!

Emotionally Drained

It is seldom that I come across a picture from the web that so accurately depicts what I am feeling, but this one does exactly that…it’s been that sort of a week for me this far, and it’s only Tuesday.

Perhaps once I’ve had the chance to reassess, reevaluate and fully decompress, I will be able to share my source of discomfiture with you guys, but in the meantime, simply take this opportunity to chat amongst yourselves or key in a subject in the search bar and just leisurely peruse The Pack (oh come on, I do this a couple of times a year; you all know the drill).

Night night!

The End of The World Is Saturday? Wait, What About My Hair Appointment?

Okay, Okay. There is nothing funny about getting left behind after The Rapture or forgoing “Glory” for a fresh doobie wrap, but the idea that the End of Days has been accurately calculated by Christians, religious zealots and prophetic believers, when The Bible clearly states that only God knows when the finale of humanity will occur (the unabridged version can actually be found in Matthew 24:36) seems more than a little presumptuous, don’tcha think?  But admittedly, with wars, rumors of wars, an uncivilized civilization and more times than not, the vile intentions of mankind, it’s really not difficult to see why those known as the religious extreme would yearn for the end of the world and a celestial do-over.

Still, for as much repenting, forgiving, penance and The Lord’s Prayer incanting that will be offered up between now and tomorrow, there are still those too worried about the almighty dollar to be concerned with eternal damnation.  While trolling the net today, I came across everything from websites advertising End of The World Sales to Judgment Day Craigslist posts.  And though I was wholly amused by some atheists affording believers the opportunity to “Go with God” unencumbered by offering to buy their worldly possessions and the plethora of discounted “Darn, I Slept Through Judgment Day” tees, just know that tonight I’ll be saying a little prayer or two and cancelling my hair appointment…you know, just in case.