Painting.

So, I've gotten into experimenting with painting. Mainly because our house has a lot of bare walls and I need a cheap way to fill them. This was my first attempt at being artistic (or perhaps even autistic).

So here's my second attempt at being artsy. I call this, "pathetic excuse for surreal fruit".

Sites.

For the Left Brained.

For the Right Brained.

Uhhh...

I have no words for this.

"Thai"-ing to Cook

In an attempt to become a more interesting and well-rounded person, I have joined a Thai cooking class. The owner of Thai Basil in Chantilly holds her own cooking classes in the restaurant. There are 3 classes, each 3 hours long, and you learn to make 3 dishes in each class. Not only do you learn to make them, but at the end, you get to EAT them! All the dishes are items on the menu which makes it even more cool.

The teacher is Nongkran Daks who is a 60 something Thai lady that is probably just about the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. She's the Thai equivalent of the Soup Nazi crossed with a cute little bunny. She'll be telling you how to do things in her sweet little way, but once you ask one stupid question, it's off with your head! For instance, while learning to make mango sticky rice, a classmate innocently said, "So, can we just cook that rice in a rice cooker?"

"NO!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Nongkran, "You never use rice cooker! You use bamboo steamer! You buy next door!"

Apparently, Nongkran must be in cahoots with the Asian market next door to Thai Basil because her answer to everything was "You buy next door!"

At any rate, I've learned how to make a mean curry from scratch and some pretty bitchin pickles made from broccoli stems, daikon and carrots. We'll see if John is still alive after trying my first dish on Friday.

Mijoy

I often wonder how many people understand why I go by "Mijoy". Mijoy is the pairing of my first and middle name -- Michelle Joy. I always thought that my middle name was so ironic because I am not by definition a "joyous" person. My mother told me that when she was pregnant with me, she kept seeing the scripture that reads, "Joy comes in the morning." I was born in the morning, so she thought that the name was appropriate.

Whenever I have a birthday or special occassion, my mother always finds a card that has the word "Joy" in it. It always makes me feel good deep down that I'm a joy to at least SOMEONE. I guess by calling myself "Mijoy" I am trying to remind myself to be the joyous person that I was intended to be (at least according to my mother).

When I was in highschool, I drew this really stupid sign that said in really big letters, "SMILE!" I taped it to the top shelf so everytime I opened my locker, it would encourage me to try to smile and be nice to people. Maybe by tagging myself as Mijoy I am doing the same thing... trying to tell myself that I need to be joyous and nice to people. Even when I don't want to.

I was named Michelle after my parents' neighbor and good friend, Michael. He was killed by a drunk driver when my Mom was 7 months pregnant with me. Before that, I was going to be Roberta, after my grandfather Robert. I was always thankful that Michael spared his life so I would not have to live mine as Roberta. Michelle means "Who is like God?" which is just as fitting as Joy. If by fitting you mean not fitting.

My newest name, Peerenboom, is Dutch for pear tree. I always joke with John that I went from bad to worse with my last name. But I actually really like my new name. I always get a lot of comments on it and I enjoy explaining to people what it means. Besides, the name belongs to my husband, so why wouldn't I love it?

So I guess if you put all my names together, I'm a godlike joyous person that lives in a pear tree. I guess I have a lot to live up to.

A tree in Sedona that I stopped to shoot on our way to Vegas.

Recent trip to Rappahanock Cellars...

I want this...

http://www.mood-light.com/MLmovie.htm

Resumes

Isn't it sad that we can spend 5, 10, 15 years at a job and when we put it on a resume, it's reduced to a one paragraph synopsis? You can spend an entire year working on a project, putting every ounce of your soul into it, and when it goes on your resume, it's reduced to "Took lead in implementing multi-million dollar project".

It's even more sad that our entire lives have to be summed up in a few words on our headstones. "Beloved Mother" or "Cherished Husband" are the types of things I often see. My headstone will probably read, "IMA ENTJ." :)

Ok, How About This One?

http://www.sanyo.com/appliances/hello_kitty/index.cfm?productID=700

For Jamie...

http://www.wishingfish.com/toastrain.html

If I Told You, I'd Have to Kill You...

In the business that I'm in, I have to deal with all sorts of people with all different types of backgrounds. Not only do I have to submit people for clearances, but I have to counsel employees that get denied, I must inform employees when they fail polygraphs and I am responsible for reporting to the Defense Security Service every little thing that an employee does wrong. With this job, I learn very quickly that there are a lot of people out there that are unclearable. Which brings me to my recent revelation...

I bet only about 50% of our elected politicians could get a TS/SCI clearance and yet about 99% of them are privy to our nation's secrets. It doesn't make sense! Why do they get to have clearances just because they won a popularity contest? I think that after they are elected, all politicians should have to fill out an SF86, get fingerprinted and take a polygraph like the rest of our cleared citizens. And if they don't pass, they need to be kicked out of office.

Also, government contractors are required to drug test all incoming employees. Why aren't our politicians required to do the same? Why do congressmen and Presidents get to smoke crack on the job, but a Systems Analyst from SAIC can't?

I highly doubt if Bill Clinton or Marion Barry could pass a poly (or a drug test for that matter!)... but then again, I wonder what politician could?

Mmmm... Eggs...

It's not often that I find a website that John has never heard of. So I thought I'd share it with all 2 of my viewers. It's actually pretty funny. It's like an egg version of teletubbies... except they are all gay.

www.iloveegg.com

Click on "English" then "Egg Song" in the upper right corner.

Christmas Spirit

First of all, I'd like to say... Jesus, why did you choose to be born during cold and flu season???? I think there is no worse feeling than being sick during the Holidays. I, personally, have been blessed with a cough, stuffy nose and sore throat this year. I am trying to hang in there, as 20 of John's closest friends are coming to par-tay at my house tonight. Ah well. There's nothing a little spiked Egg Nog and Wassle won't cure.

At any rate, I figured it was time to update my blog as I have been absent from writing for over a month. These past few weeks have been consumed by my birthday, my brother's birthday, Thanksgiving, office parties, cookie making and the Integic Christmas party.

For my birthday, I was taken out to dinner on several occasions by several different people which is always nice. But the most awesome thing I did was go to DC with John and my brother, Tony, to see Movin' Out. If any of you have talked to me for more than 2 seconds, you would know that I am a huge Billy Joel fan, as is my brother. So in honor of me turning 26 and Tony turning 35, we thought what better way to celebrate than by catching the show. It was a fantastic show, my only regret is that Billy Joel himself didn't show up.

Thanksgiving was spent with my family members on my sister's farm in Waaaarnton. It's amazing how different me and my siblings can be -- Lisa lives on a 50 acre horse farm, Jim lives in the heart of Tokyo, Tony lives in Rappahanock County renting a log cabin and John and I live in Levittown. It's a wonder we all sprung from the same womb.

So the past few weeks I've been doing the Christmas thing-- watching Kenny Logins make an ass of himself at the Integic party, making 25 dozen cookies, cross-stitching Mikey a Kirby ornament, you know, the usual.

But I must say that with all that is going on, my favorite event thus far would have to be my recent visit to a food shelter in Chantilly. A co-worker and I organized a Food and Toys for Tots drive for my company this month. After a few weeks of collecting, we managed to come up with hundreds of toys and tons of food items. It was our job to deliver the food to the Food Pantry. When we dropped the items off, I asked one of the volunteers if she could give me a tour of the facility. It was amazing. She walked us past dozens and dozens of shelves stocked to the ceiling with food. Not only were all the shelves stocked full, but the hallways of the entire Food Pantry were lined floor to ceiling with food that they couldn't fit on the shelves! She said that during the holidays, the outpouring of food is just overwhelming. However, once Christmas ends, they start having shortages. She said that by June, all the shelves are bare. How sad. Then she took us past the 12 freezers filled with meat, all the shelves filled with cereal and soups and showed us the less-stocked sections. There was one shelf labeled "personal items" that was practically bare. She told us that they cannot keep enough toothpaste, toothbrushes, feminine products, soap, deodorant and shampoo on the shelves. She told us that she will go through 300 tubes of toothpaste in one month. Although people always are more than willing to give food, they never even consider donating these items. What is worse, is that food stamps do not cover these items either -- food stamps are soley for food.

In addition, she said that they have to ration many items. Each family is only allowed 1 bottle of juice per month. They can only have 1 can of tuna per family member per month. They are allowed 1 jar of spaghetti sauce a month. Currently, families are allowed unlimited cans of soup, but once the summer hits, those too will be rationed.

So needless to say, John and I were in Price Club the very next day stocking up on toothpaste and tampons and tuna and juice. I drove to the shelter the very next day and dropped it all off. It amazes me how many people out there are in need and how critical is it that we all do our part. For Mikey, it's donating blood. For me, it's donating food. We all have our interests, and I just pray that we all continue to give, especially once Christmas is over because that is when charity and humanity is needed the most.

Here is a birthday cake I just made for my brother. What better way for a traumatized little sister to say "Happy Birthday" than by writing it in Tootsie Roll Cat Terds?

Politics.

Over the past year, I’ve sat and listened patiently to all of the anti-Bush sentiments going around. I decided to be the better person and not say anything about Kerry. Now that Bush has won the election, I would like to explain why I support Bush. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t feel that I HAVE to explain myself – but I want to.

First of all, there are certain topics that I do not feel should be discussed or debated. These topics have to do with people’s core beliefs and values and should never be put down or degraded. America is a country founded on freedoms and I feel that no matter how much I may disagree with someone, that it is their right to feel the way they do. The topics that I am referring to have to do with the subjects of abortion and religion. Anyone that is Pro-Choice has no right to degrade my beliefs because I feel that a child should be protected, just as I would never degrade an individual that feels that every woman deserves to have that choice. In that same vein, I do not feel that my religious beliefs should be put down just because someone does not have the same values I do. I would never berate a Muslim, Jew or Agnostic—I feel I deserve the same respect for being a Christian.

With that being said, I will attempt to explain why I support Bush and will remove any religious or pro-life sentiments that may also happen to go along with my backing of Bush. In other words, I will explain my political motivations for supporting our President, as opposed to my religious motivations. By doing this, I hope to avoid a discussion based on emotion, but rather one based in what I believe to be fact.

The very first thing that scared me most about John Kerry was his Socialist vision for our country. Kerry was convinced that national healthcare was the way to solve all of our country’s problems—and that scared the crap out of me. The reason why Kerry wanted a national healthcare system was because of the rising cost of doctors, prescription drugs and hospitalizations. I do not disagree that this is an enormous problem and needs to be fixed. However, giving free medical care to any American that wants it is not the answer. Let’s look at this logically:
· Health insurance carriers continue to raise the cost of health insurance due to the fact that doctors, pharmacists and hospitals keep charging more for their products and services.
· To solve this problem, Kerry wants to offer free healthcare to any American that needs it.
· Free healthcare will cause hundreds of thousands of Americans to say, “Well, hey! Why pay for my insurance if Uncle Sam is giving it away for free?” When Americans start dropping their current insurance in exchange for free insurance, the cost of insurance will rise all the more so the insurance companies can make up for lost revenue.
· Once Americans start joining the free healthcare system, our taxes will have to be raised in order to pay for this new healthcare.
· Those in the High class and Middle class brackets not only will be paying higher insurance premiums now, but their taxes will also raise to pay for the government issued insurance.

It doesn’t make sense to me at all. European countries tax their citizens at 40-70% in order to pay for their big government programs. I don’t know about you, but I like to KEEP my pay. I think that instead of focusing on making our government bigger and raising taxes, we need to focus on the problem itself. Here are my suggestions:
· Restrict drug companies from advertising so excessively. They spend millions of dollars on Viagra ads and then pass that cost on to us. Insurance carriers have higher payments, and therefore increase our premiums. If we limit the amount of money these companies can spend on advertising, it will help cut costs all around.
· Shorten the timeframe for generic drugs. Currently, a drug has to be on the market for 30 years before a generic is permitted to be made. If we limit this to 10 years, cheaper drugs will be able to hit the market quicker, therefore reducing our costs.
· Put limits on lawsuits. I’m sick of the John Edwards type Ambulance chasers that are quick to sue a doctor for the smallest mistake. I understand doctors have to be held accountable. However, when they can be sued for 10, 20 even 100 million dollars, all it does is raise our insurance costs. We need to establish reasonable limits to lawsuits, while at the same time, we are still holding doctors accountable.
· Allow drugs to be bought from Canada. Although this is a primarily Democrat idea, I like it. Being able to buy drugs from Canada will increase competition and create lower drug costs for both countries. Capitalism is founded on competition and I really like this idea. My only concern with doing this is that Canadian drugs are not FDA approved. If we can work out some sort of mutual agreement between the two countries, that would be the best scenario. Maybe in exchange for FDA approved Canadian drugs, we can provide Canada with tariff free US goods?

Well, I’m tired right now. I’ll continue on with this at a later time. I still need to discuss issues such as Iraq, Charter Schools and Social Security. Maybe in another blog.

MCP

Ok, now that I've been finished school for a whole week, I've actually accomplished some things with my life. I ordered my diploma, started transferring some of my old VHS home movies onto DVD, worked on some Family Tree stuff, and my house is pretty much finished with being decorated for Halloween. I found out for the price of 2 pizzas and some beer, Mikey and Delvaux will actually come over and deck out my house with all their old Halloween stuff. Pretty good deal.

I've decided to carve a somewhat complicated pumpkin this year. Delvaux said instead of a Masters in Organizational Management, I should have a Masters in Pumpkin Carving. So with my MCP, I'm gonna make one of these: http://www.pumpkinmasters.com/patternbooks.html. Basically, I'm going to have to carve one pumpkin and then stick it inside of another carved pumpkin to make sort of a wierd 3D effect. I'm kinda psyched about the whole thing.

I also found out that in order to cater to us Gen-Xers, they have come up with Lite Brite (called Fright Lights) for pumpkins http://www.pumpkinmasters.com/kids.html. You hammer these plastic thingys into the pumpkin and when you light it from the inside, you get this Lite Brite effect. It looks kinda stupid, but I like the concept. I wonder if Mikey's pixelblocks would look cooler hammered into a pumpkin?

No more pencils, no more books...

Wow. I'm officially finished with school. Amazing. I feel so... useless! What am I going to do when I get home from work now? How will I fill up my weekends? I guess I'll actually have to go out and DO stuff.

So anyway, Ed had a great point. I was telling him today on IM that I finished school today and he said that everyone has to call me "Master Michelle" from now on. If people get their PhDs, they are called "Doctor", so what's wrong with people calling me "Master" after I get my MA? After all, I deserve to get SOMETHING for my two and a half years of studying and $20K.

...and Bingo was his name-o...

Well, I just got back from my first experience with Bingo--ever. I must say, I was very apprehensive at first when my friend called me up...

"Hey, Michelle! They're having Bingo at South Riding Town Hall tonight. We should totally go!"
"I dunno. Isn't it a bunch of old people?" I asked.
"No!! It's South Riding! There are no old people in South Riding!" my friend said with confidence.

So we ventured out with our other friend Daynah. Three brave souls attempting to conquer the world of Bingo. As we entered, we were greeted by two 70 year old women.

"Are you members?" she asked.

My friend Daynah said no, it was our first time and we were promptly instructed to pay the full fee of $7 (as opposed to the $5 member fee) and fill out name tags. We filled them out dutifully and Daynah put her alias, "Cookie" on hers. I guess she didn't want to reveal her true identity to the shady underworld of Bingo. All three of us got 4 cards each, thinking that was the "thing to do".

As we sat down, we were greeted by more eager 70 year olds--their eyes gleaming at the sight of three 20 somethings.

"Ooooo... FOUR CARDS! You guys must play a LOT!" they would exclaim. Little did we know we were the ONLY ones with four cards. Everyone else had two or three.

It was about 15 minutes into chatting with the 70 year olds that we realized where we were. This Bingo night was for the "Primetimers Club" and apparently was a regular thing. We started giggling as the Primetimers kept referring to Daynah as Cookie and they proceeded to offer us baked goods that they had brought for this special occassion. The leader started off telling jokes and apologized for the last Bingo night being cancelled. Apparently, they had to cancel because she was in the hospital for some ailment. They then exchanged tidbits on how you can get cheaper prescription drugs at Costco and you don't even have to be a member! And apparently, stamps are 25 cents cheaper a roll at Costco than if you were to buy them at the post office. "Amazing!" the primetimers gasped at this knowledge.

The worst part of the evening was when Stacy turned to me and said, "Do you realize you have a gray hair?" As she plucked it out, I almost cried! My first gray hair is found in a BINGO HALL during a PRIMETIMERS meeting. It was all too much.

All in all, between the 3 of us and our 12 cards, we ended up winning 7 games for a grand total win of $18. We were the envy of the hall as there were only about 10 games or so played total.

It was fun. It was cute. But I don't think I want to be an official "Primetime Member" for a long long time.