Welcome to Slovenia

These are various pictures of random buildings in Slovenia. For those of you who don't know where Slovenia is, it's just east of Italy. It's part of the former Yugoslavia and gained their independence in 1991. This is the capital city of Ljubljana. (pronounced exactly how it's spelled....not really...Lubyana is the only way I can think of spelling it phonetically). I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed being there to take them. If you're ever in Europe, swing by Slovenia. It's a really beautiful place. And don't worry, most everyone speaks English. Or enough to communicate with you.

I was Right and the Lawyer was WRONG!!!!

I know that in deep down inside, most of us know that lawyers are wrong more often than not, but that on the surface, they get credit for being the all knowing, wise sages of a company. They get the final word, because after all, they went to law school and should know better. Most of us are going to deal with them in a corporate setting. In the courtroom setting, it’s usually one lawyer against another lawyer. Most people that represent themselves lose. Which is why they get a lawyer. They are trained to look at a case from all angles and argue your case. The ones that do it better than everyone else, get loads of money.

I’m going to tell you about the time I won an argument at work with a lawyer. As you can see this did not happen in a court of law. Since I work for state government, we have a whole staff of lawyers who presumably are supposed to know federal citations/laws/rules/regulations like the back of their hand. At the very least, they should be able to find them. They are also supposed to make sure that our documents and procedures comply with these federal rules, etc. among other things. We send official documents through their office to review before they get posted for public review. I find that they spend more of their time rewriting sentences that they rewrote the last time we sent them this exact type of document on another topic. They do check to make sure all of our citations are correct though. But let me tell you, if you don’t know what a citation is, apparently it’s my job, not theirs, to come up with the appropriate citation or alternative way to say it without the specific citation that would normally go there. I thought this was part of their job. But I’m getting sidetracked, as that was another story and another lawyer.

So this particular document I am referring to is being reviewed for me for the first time by this particular lawyer. This lawyer was relatively new to the job so I’m thinking this was probably the first time they had reviewed this particular type of document. They had already reviewed a whole set of documents on the same subject, for a different purpose for me months back. The lawyer sends back my document stating that according to federal citation “blah blah blah,” that my informational packet needed to be available for distribution at certain said locations, when I had in there to contact me for a copy of this informational packet, as I had for all other documents for this specific purpose. I looked up the citation referred to and saw clearly that it didn’t relate to this purpose but to the purpose this lawyer had already reviewed for me months back. I did see how this could be confusing as this revelation was based on one specific word in the citation. So I sent back an email pointing out this specific word and explained that’s what was accomplished in the prior set of documents and explained how the purpose of this document was different. I also asked if the procedure had changed for some reason to let me know so I could alert my superiors.

The lawyer sends me an email back disagreeing with me once again and saying the same thing they did the first time. At this point I don’t get paid enough to argue with lawyers plus, if I had, this lawyer could have used their hotheaded lawyerness to tell my superiors how disrespectful or blah blah blah I was. I had argued once and that was enough for my peewee position, so I passed it on to my superiors. My boss’s boss came over and told me that I was right and had handled it properly, and then we called the lawyer together at my desk. Huh…we got the voicemail. So my boss’s boss left a message saying that I was correct and that maybe they needed to check with their boss for clarification/understanding of the citation. And to please approve so that it could get posted in a timely manner and to call either of us with questions. Victory!!!!!! That was probably the best day I have had at work so far. It’s not often that I get to be declared right, even if I am.

Next thing I get is an email with the approval, but contesting our interpretation of the citation as this lawyer checked with a co-working lawyer who agreed that the citation applied to this document, (this other lawyer’s pretty flaky in my dealings so I sense easily persuaded) but their boss was out and so they’d check with her when she got back for future documents of this purpose. We’ve heard nothing back since, and I just sent another one over for this purpose last week. All I got back was a snarky comment and more rewriting of their own rewritings. It may not have been snarky, maybe it was just very much to say, I’m a lawyer and you’re not, so I’m going to make a comment to you to make sure you know that I better than you.

Yes Yes oh great lawyer….you are better than me. Tell me why it is that you’re working for pennies at the state, essentially as an editor with your commas and “is, and, or but,” changes, when you could be making more money anywhere else working the same long hours you do here probably doing more meaningful work than editing commas???? Yes yes great lawyer, you ARE better than me!!! But I WAS RIGHT AND YOU WERE WRONG!!!! Now I’m going to do a happy dance!!! In your face.

Baby Borrowers - Make Your Teens Borrow One Too!!!

So I don't know how many of you, if any of you, watched the stupid reality show called the Baby Borrowers that was on last night. It's one of those terrible shows the network can get away with because there's nothing else on in the summer. However, I must say, I like the concept.

They take 5 dating teenagers, presumably all 18 or more, but I might have missed something, and put them in their own house as a couple and transition them through the baby process. Presumably all of these kids think they are ready to get married and start having babies. What I really think, is the girls have no direction and don't want to try anything else in life out, and the boys are just along for the ride, because they're too chicken to break up with the girls and hurt their feelings and deal with the water works that will come if they break their hearts.

So phase one is the pregnancy belt for a day or two I guess, while they go to parenting classes. One girl was so "embarrassed" that she broke out in tears, and refused to wear it and refused to go to the parenting class. Then she had the nerve to throw a fit when her boyfriend did do what he agreed to, and go to class rather than stay there and pacify her. There's a girl ready for marriage, or a baby for that matter. That girl needs sterilization until she grows up!!!

Next comes the "delivery," which means the parents that have agreed to loan their babies out for 3 days arrive with the babies and detailed instructions on how to care for the baby. All the babies were under 1 year. Meanwhile the house is rigged with cameras and the parents are not far away if they feel it necessary to step in and give the kids some advice and mentorship. (side note, a professional nanny is in the house with them to intervene only in an emergency situation) So one of the girls who seems most passionate about being ready to have a baby, gets frustrated and jealous when the baby is calm and snuggly with her boyfriend but not her. There's another girl ready for marriage and a baby!!! Jealous, are you kidding me? Aren't you supposed to find it sexy when your man interacts so well with kids and shows signs of being a good father one day? But what could I possibly know about that since I'm not a parent? But no she pouts and has a cow when the baby's mom comes over to talk to them and give them some great advice about parenting, and points out their strengths and criticizes, constructively, their downfalls for the night. How does she respond? "I don't even want to do this anymore. And I'm just upset that the baby's mom came over" Honey, if you take that personal, how the hell do you plan to handle a teenager that hates you for cramping his/her lifestyle? Yep, she's ready to get knocked up too!!!

There was another girl that pouted when the mom came over to help them out when they failed to feed the baby all day. My hope is that at least 3-4 of these couples will break up after the show. There is about one couple that I don't hate so far, but that said, I hope that the show cures them or her from wanting a baby in the near future. You're still so very young. Give it about 10 years plus or minus a couple years. MINIMUM!!! Babies are not these cute little toys that love you. If that's all you want, get a puppy. I can vouch for their cute and cuddliness.

Every teenager, boys and girls, should have to babysit a sick baby for several hours. That baby needs to cry, throw up, poo while the diaper is being changed, and lets throw in pee all over the place while we're at it. Oh and when I say cry, I mean blood curdling screams that are unstoppable with the change of a diaper, bottle, rocking, or anything. If every teenager was subjected to this process, I guarantee you, the teen pregnancy rate would drop significantly. Either that or the adoption rate would go up and the amount of single mothers would drop significantly.

I know I talk about this a lot, but I'm very passionate about kids not having kids. And you're still a kid in your early 20's. Maybe that was just me. Either way, it's a process that I'm confident will work because it worked for me. I'm 30 and childless. I couldn't fathom being able to provide sufficiently for a child when I was 18 or 20 or 22 or 24. At least now, I know I could.

Lola's Corner

Welcome once again to my corner. My name is Lola and I'll be your hostess as usual. Because I'm really cute and adorable which is redundant, but I can't help it. I wake up every day this way.

So I was contemplating poo the other day and just want a funny word it is. I'm sure you will agree with me. So much so that you probably like to say it just for fun. Kind of like I like to play with it just for fun. Well and to get daddy's goat. And if you've never said it just for fun, try singing a song where the only word you use is "poo"....It's guaranteed to bring a smile to your face or make you laugh. And if it doesn't, then there must be something wrong with you. That's it.

So my first friends today are brought to you by Mr. Pickles, whom you've met before. Doesn't he look like a well loved and happy cat?

These are his furry little friends whose mamma made her way into his back yard. Aren't they just cute, cuddly little balls of fur? He makes sure that their mamma has enough food and water to feed them. Mr. Pickles, you're my hero for loving those kittens and giving them a chance at life. You get my "top paw of the week award". It's this brilliant new idea that I just had this instant. It consists of nothing but accolades. I have no budget for a trophy or certificate or even a can of special cat food. Congratulations Mr. Pickles!! Take an extra nap or get an extra belly rub or chin scratchin, or whatever tickles your fancy.

And this is Scout. He's a 4 year old Siberian Husky. Isn't he beautiful or handsome? or whatever is appropriate for a male dog. He had bright red eyes, so I tried to fix them. I can't tell if that means I gave him eyeliner in the process. If so, I apologize profusely. Anyways so Scout is the cousin of Riley, Maddie, and Hopper. You know Maddie and Hopper that are hated by their mother who clearly favors Riley. Scout is lucky he doesn't have to deal with that kind of nonsense.

His likes are howling, milk bones, playing with his friends (Ollie and Snickers), cats, and Riley.

His Dislikes are carbs, fireworks, and people messing with his food.

I don't blame you Scout, I don't want anyone messing with my food either, unless it's to give me more.

Well that's it for this week. Remember to send me pictures of your furry friends to Lolafrog@gmail.com. Have a great week!!

Until next time,

Lola

Gas Prices Beating You Down?

How many of you are not so rich that the price of gas isn't starting to affect your bottom line at home? Not that you're not getting by, but you don't have as much left over at the end of the month to put into savings, or to put aside for your next vacation, or to splurge on those new shoes you've been needing because your old ones are beyond worn out. We are all looking for ways to save on gas and we've all seen the emails to boycott getting gas for a day or tips on how to not waste money at the pump. Below is a link to a list of myths debunked if you bought into them in the first place. Don't bother to waste your time with these.Your time and efforts are better spent doing other things. http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/12/autos/ways_to_not_save_gas/index.htm?postversion=2008051515

You know what the quickest fix for a lot of families would be while the government sorts out to drill or not to drill, and other cost effective fuel initiatives? Making the move to work from home. Many of us have at least one if not two family members whose jobs are tied up in email, documents, and time-wasting meetings. All of this can be done at home, on your computer there and with your phone there. And many of us drive in from the burbs every day just to go to work at another computer. This would not only be a viable option for employees, but could save companies money from leasing space and other overhead, even if they wanted to keep a certain amount of facilities for those who didn't want to work from home or those who have proven not to be trusted to work from home. This could be determined by allowing those who have earned the trust in the work place and subsequently, at home, continue to meet deadlines and respond in a timely manner to emails and phone calls, as well as calling into meetings they are supposed to be apart of.

Already you read of reports of compressing the workweek all over the country. In fact today, we were offered that option, obviously with the threat that it can be revoked if abused or if you are somehow even less productive than showing up 5 days. While this is progress, and is better than nothing, it still won't curb the gas prices or take care of the fact that I have to dress up for work. It would save me maybe $15-$20/month at $4/gallon of gas. But I drive a Civic. I suppose it could save those of you with worse mileage or who live farther from work than I do, 2-3 times that. So it's a start.

My hope though is that there will be a trend to let workers telecommute. Incidentally this would help solve the traffic problems that many cities are facing today. And it would solve the problem of having to see moody, lazy, cranky, or just plain irritating co-workers everyday.