Martha Mihaly

Good news! My keyboard is fixed and I can use ALL the keys.

I had tried fixing the thing myself, but the cranberry juice I had spilled on it proved to be more adhesive than liquid cement! I wanted to order the keypad and install it myself, but my IT hubby said,

“Don’t do that Martha, if you break something while installing it, you’ll be screwed….let the pros do it”.

So, completely uncharacteristically of me, I followed his suggestion (install of the keyboard was only $10 so I figured this would be a good move). I found the only authorized Toshiba repair place for 50 km, phoned and ordered the part.

Up I went this morning, and the geeky guy at the repair place had my part handy. I was quite excited, and wanted to watch. Yes, I am a geek. He suggested it would be a 5 minute job.

I got concerned when he fussed with the machine and started turning it over. His face began to redden.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before…I have to take the whole thing apart to put on a new keypad”.

So, I asked how long, he said 20 minutes. Okay, I went shopping next door. When I came back a half hour later I saw a dis-assembled machine. Geekboy was in a full sweat.

I got a tad worried.

I asked how things were going (more as a gauge of how much damage had been done than as a measure of sarcasm). He looked up and nervously said he put one of the screws back in the wrong place and punched it through the front of the face cover of the machine. Hmmmmm. My husband’s voice was ringing in my ears…

So this became one of those moments in life that I struggle with on an ongoing basis. When is it beneficial to get noticeably angry versus, being kind and compassionate and understanding. I figured I could get free keypad out of this if I played my cards right. Fortunately for the both of us I was well caffeinated and well rested (excellent combination for me). I chose the path of sweetness and honey.

He must have gotten nervous while I sat there silently, with a smile on my face. He ended up volunteering the free keypad, installation, repair for the part he broke, AND a heartfelt apology. I smiled, and he said he would call the minute the new part was in.

So, life is good. And I got to leave the place feeling good about how I handled things. I must say though, that the idea of having to drive back in a few days is annoying, but I’ll meet a friend for coffee and make it a nice day.

The kids were absolutely pumped last night. The forecast calling for rain, freezing rain and then 15 cm of the white stuff. They are now old enough to do the math on this one.

NO SCHOOL tomorrow was the chant.

They were on the phone to friends making contingency plans for the day.

Being a child of the ‘north’ I have fond memories of snow days myself. As I recall though, they were less frequent. I suppose that has to do with insurance companies cracking down on ‘acceptable risk’. More snow days, fewer playgrounds…Let’s not open that can of worms now though.

So it’s 7 A.M. and the ice came and went. The local radio station reports accidents at every exit for a 50 km stretch of highway, and now the snow is starting. It has the potential to get ’sporty’ out there for people who need to go somewhere. Fortunately we don’t. I guess we’ll busy ourselves baking and doing some Christmas crafts. Likely having some friends over. I am so glad to be home to be able to do these things.

Working for the last 10 months made me appreciate being home full time so much more.

Well I’ve not been around these last few days.  My mom has been quite ill and was hospitalized on Tuesday.  They aren’t sure what exactly the problem is, but it relates to intestinal bleeding, and a great deal of pain. The tests are being run, and from what I gather she feels like a blood donor.  We hope to have a conclusive diagnosis today, and then we can proceed.

Please keep her in your thoughts, and I’ll let you know when she is out of the woods.

M

I was reading RubyShooz blog today about celebrating causes.  She had quite a list of them, Vegan Day, Cancer Month, Blogging for the Cause, etc.  I can add my own, Earth Day, Christmas, Kidney month, Cancer month, Remebrance/Veteran’s Day, Ramadan,  mothers against kids against drunk drivers, you name it….

I have chosen not to write about any of these because I firmly believe that if I can’t be bothered to ‘live’ something everyday, then why would I pretend to care on a certain day.  So, if I drive a gas guzzler, why celebrate Earth Day?  If I don’t go to church, why bother with Easter and Christmas?  If I don’t respect those called to service then why care on Remembrance Day?

A friend called me mean today, in a nice way, but maybe it is true.  Who knows.  Who really cares?  I don’t know anymore.  It is impossible to be politically correct.  If you wander from the PC line, then you are a bigot or a racist, even when that isn’t the truth.  When did silence become tacit approval?  When did voicing a legitimate point of view become incorrect? 

What good does it do to flood everyone with causes that are valid, but which simply blind us to everything else in the world.  If we agree to the causes then we are sheep. If we ignore then we are cretons, if we disagree we are bigots….something’s wrong out there…

I guess it’s time to have cup of tea and to do some more thinking.

We had such a lovely day today.  We went to my parent’s home to have lunch with my mother’s cousin.  My parents are immigrants, and I am only child.  Thus, I have an extremely small, small family.  I have an aunt, uncle and cousin in California and that’s it.  There isn’t much to be said for being able to hold your family re-union in a minivan.

Today though, my mother had a cousin of hers visit from Romania.  She is ethnic Hungarian from Romania, and her cousin Ferenc is a lovely man.  His wife Jolika is extremely nice as well.  We’ve met them once before.  It was a family reunion of sorts!

Anyhow, anytime that my children are exposed to family from my side is really special because there just aren’t that many of us on this side of the ocean, and we don’t get over the pond often (ever). 

Ahh, then there is the kitchen.  It’s almost done!  The cupboards, and counters and such are done, we just have to plaster the walls and paint. I was hoping to do that this week, but am waiting for the reports from the orthopedic surgeon before I start climbing ladders etc. with a paint brush.  For once I am letting reason lead the way.

Well it was only a matter of time before the inevitable occurred.  My office is split equally between the kitchen table and dining room table.  I am religious about not eating/drinking while using my laptop BUT this week we’re painting and tearing apart the kitchen.  The cranberry juice was right beside my laptop and I, me, not the kids, knocked the whole glass over and of course it spilled onto my laptop keyboard.

It seems to be the upper right side that is sticking, nothing important there except 15 or so keys, like the delete, o,p and enter.  I tried popping them off and cleaning up  but it doesn’t seem to be working.  Off to the repair place I guess.

How often in life do we warn ourselves and others of potential mistakes, and then make them anyway?  It sounds awful, but I would have been less upset if the kids had done this rather than me.  I suppose that my expectations of myself are higher, and that’s that.

It’s a small mistake in the big picture, but a completely preventable one.  These are the mistakes that consume my life though.  Somehow, I can forgive the HUGE ones, but these nit picky small things (hemming one pant leg shorter than the other, burning the muffins) eat me up.  Is it the same for you?

oh well, off I go tomorrow to have things checked out.

M

I simply cannot fathom the lengths to which so many people go to ‘change’ themselves.  And to what end.  And at what cost?  And why?

I suppose that one can say the simple act of cutting hair, dying it, or wearing makeup fall into this category of vanity, but what I am really thinking about are the cosmetic surgeries, the liposuctions, the EXTREME wacko makeovers.  I decided a few years ago that I like British tv series, not because of their content, nor because of some latent monarchist tendancies, but rather because the actors look like real people.

I think in North America, and in many other parts of the world, we are obsessed with looking like the ‘perfect’ people.  The supermodels and actresses.  Let’s face it, these people won the genetic lottery, the other 99% of us didn’t.  Let’s not take this fact as a carte blanche to become unkept, overweight slobs, but let’s recognize that we need to make peace with who we really are. 

I can’t say that looking into the mirror naked at myself makes me particularly pleased.  On the other hand, I know I am my biggest critic, that I am healthy, I excercise regularly and I love life.  I live well, have good friends and cherish my family.  Would lipo or a face lift make me look ‘better’?  I don’t know.  I know that having a ‘perfect body’ wouldn’t make my life better.  I do know that I would look less like myself, and more like a characture of myself.  Just look at Joan Rivers or Michael Jackson for the extreme examples of this. 

Then there is the financial cost.  Holy cow, can’t we possible spend that money in a better way?  Can’t we feed the hungry, put books into the hands of children, or clean water into the mouths of those dying around the world?  Ay yi yi to quote a good friend of mine.

I wrote this a while back, almost 10 months ago.  I think it shares some of what I am about…

I think whether we like to admit it or not, we tend to get wrapped up in our own lives and to neglect people around us. This was hit home for me last month. I phoned my mom for the ‘obligatory’ call home. You know the one. She was hysterical as she answered the phone. The ambulance was there. Dad wasn’t responsive, he had no pulse. I did what I had to do, packed the kids, pjs and toothbrushes, dropped them at a neighbors and let my husband drive me the hour to the hospital. It was dark and snowy (of course), and slippery (or course), and the drive lasted an eternity. My heart sank when I finally got to the ER and it was a social worker who greeted me. I’d heard stories of these people, the harbingers of death and terrible news.The night was a scene out of a bad hospital movie. I didn’t know so many horrible things could be done to someone. My dad. The respirator, the scissors, the CT scans the tubes and monitors. My dad. I should call the rest of my family the social worker said. My dad was gravely ill. I told her we were all there. All three of us. I’m not ready to tell you about everything that happened. I can tell you that a month later he’s okay. I can also tell you that everything has changed. I have time to call. I make time in my day every day to speak with him and mom. I make time to listen to what they want to say, to what they need to tell me. I’m lucky. I guess it’s true, you don’t appreciate what you have until it’s (almost) gone. Was it luck or fate that I called when I did? That’s something else to think about.

Come on in, have a seat and make yourself comfortable please.  I want this to be my online living room, where my friends are welcome to stop by, have a drink and a chat.  I used to be at Respectance.com, and now I am here.  I hope we have many great visits, and stories to share.