Spot On Your Lung, A Sad Story

To anyone reading this blog for the first time, or maybe recently discovered it, the title is supposed to be "happy go lucky." About hindsight and taking chances, evolving, and perspective.

But, really, I bought the domain name at my old job. The company is called superDimension (go ahead, everyone else calls it superDimensia) and it's right in the middle of a beige, boring, business complex off a highway frontage road. I had just sworn off the cubicle indefinitely, but we needed my income and the technology really is cool.

Oh yeah, if you have a pet project, personal agenda, or just love to sit bare balls down on the top of the glass ceiling, you may want to apply for any open position. Just put, "I like cigars and golfing" down on your resume, and it's a shoe in for sure.

superDimensiaon designs and manufacturers lung catheters intended to travel to the outer extensions of your lungs. A surgical needle is threaded down through the catheter, where the bronchoscopist then takes a small biopsy of the "spot" (or suspicious lymph node or nodule). If you go to www.spotonyourlung.com, you can learn all about the life-saving technology.

So, "What is the correlation between the life-saving campaign and this blog name?" you may ask. A crappy t-shirt. You see, when Tom Borillo, VP of Sales and Marketing ordered a SpotOnYourLung t-shirt from his marketing budget, everyone in the company got one. But me.

I named MY site SpotOnYourPants. Juvenille, but it made me feel better, and I still like the name. And I'm about the most accident person I know. It fits.

That Friday was my last day with the company and (even despite objections from other employees) I never got a shirt. Instead, Tom said I would use it as a grease rag or just throw it away. Funny, he knew me well enough to choose grease monkey over saving lives. Yes, I realize all of this seems like a bitter rant over a $3 t-shirt. But, Tom, shame on you!

superDimension, if you are running a Google Search or any other SEO for the company, I hope this pops up. Someone I met the other day had just come from the doctor and was beside himself about three spots they found on his lung. I scrambled to find a scrap paper and a pen. "Go to this website, tell your doctor about superDimension, ask about lung catheters. Don't give up!"

You know, I may have just been wearing that t-shirt, but you'll never know how many other people could have been reading it too (around the spot, that is).

A Mother's Pride

Enjoy Calvin's first sentence (see the period at the end to make it official):


It says: No mom and dad. He made about 20 of these and taped them all over his room.

Behold the fury of an angry (literate) six year old! This writing mama is proud!

Still Hungry

Happy Wednesday Bloggies!

Speaking of food and being Out to Lunch, I've been spending a lot of time as Feed Me Editor with Road Trips for Families. I'm working on a iPhone App for Family Friendly Milwaukee (see others here)! Universe, you rock!

Blogging has evolved into something I wasn't expecting. Well, that's not saying much when you start without any preconceived notions. But, I've been maintaining this site since September of 2008. I was surprised to find I've posted 226 times (including this one) since then. And, how much money have I made from this blog. Exactly $0.00. I've gotten some free product, but I'm kind of picky about what I'm willing to review.

Granted, I've met a bunch of amazing people (using the term "met" loosely there). I'm up to 90 followers; that's 0.4/post (woot woot). You know, I think we blog for many reasons--to find a community of people, collaborate on a topic near and dear to your heart, grow your writing, evolve with the times (social media as a profession, anyone). A lot of us are home with our kids.

For all intensive purposes, we're broke (remember when dinner and a movie was more than a sitter). We're about to take a $50,000 to $70,000 loss on a house. We moved to a beige duplex we picked out on Craigslist, for Pete's sake. We work from home, barely see any other adults during the day, and have been breathing the same air for the past five months.

I do work part time at Blogs Mama (see text in the right-hand column), but that was my intention at Blog Her last year. To evolve blogging into a income-generating activity. I value my time and I think we (as moms and women) tend to devalue our worth. Yes, the economy is sluggish. Yes, we're pinching belts around our post-partum bellies. Totally get it. But, I work harder and longer than I ever did in a cubicle, when I was trying to pay bills online between meetings. I work around Candyland and sidewalk chalk and wiping bottoms. Honestly, Stephanie Meyer has moved up my heroine list right there with Erma Bombeck!

Someone emailed today that Boston Scientific had another recall on a defibrillator and stock price is down to below $7/share (Do it FDA, issue the warning letter!) and I just don't care. Don't get me wrong, I'm sick at the thought of the unnecessary loss of human life. Not to mention the concern patients and their families have right now (I'd be freaking out, no doubt). But, you see, I spent over ten years in the medical device industry as a Technical Writer. The most exciting cubicle I ever sat in had a window to Priscilla, my mentor (Hi Priscilla!). We pretended to order french fries with our documents.

I don't miss the beige walls, the Styrofoam cups of coffee, the endless meetings, hearing "nobody even reads the manual" ten times in a day. Am I making $100,000/year? Um, not even close. But, I'm not worried. Truly, now that I've lost a parent, I'm more worried about not taking chances than picking a plaque or a gold watch.

Not sitting in traffic. Writing with passion. Being home when the bus rounds the bend. Priceless.

My hope is that we all (us, ladies) can figure out a way to play on our assets and add value to our networking, advertising, and journalism talents. There's a whole bunch of smart mamas online. Smart mamas that sold BSCX at $17/share back in 2004. Rosie the Riveter is making a come back! Burn a bra--you know, it might just be fun!

Homeless

Well, yesterday was my dad's birthday. He would have been 61. Honestly, I kind of forgot about it until today. While in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward, we came upon some cheese orphans at the Public Market. A cheese tragedy, really. Sad ending, for sure!

I guess I kind of feel like a cheese orphan these days. We're living here in dairy country waiting for things to transpire. Not really able to react suddenly, as school calendars and dentist appointments and swimming lessons make true spontaneity improbable, if at all.

While one of my parents is dead, the other is debating a move to care for both of hers (alive and aging with an extra dash of dimensia each and every day). What is better really? To live without a parent, alone in your adulthood? Or to enjoy the freedom of retirement when it knocks at your door? And then there's the invisible pull of family obligation. A fish line wrapped around the web of a migrating duck, with Jack Frost knocking on the door.

I've been thinking a lot about passion and love and obligation these days. Being an intentional orphan and not being able to give an answer to the question, "Where are you from?" Up next, introspection followed (hopefully) by self-actualization. Freud would be proud!

Dookie

What is it about dog poop that makes it seem so much more untouchable than cat poop? The idea that it should be dealt with, put into bags, carried around for the rest of your walk?


We had a dog and it pooped. A lot! Like worse than a grown man. 4 cups of dog food + moisture = 10 pounds of crap!

So, here is my beef. When we got our dog, we kind of expected it to poop. Maybe not to the Nth degree, but it wasn't a surprise or anything. And, perhaps, because the snow is melting and the brown land mines have been "hidden" for a few months, it seems like we have a major poo problem here in Sun Prairie.

Remember in Marley and Me when Marley poops on the beach and dogs are banned forever more? I kind of feel like that right now...like, how did you STILL let your dog crap on someone's yard in the snow (not exactly hard to locate, ya know) and think it will just melt with spring. News flash, it melts, thaws, and no one really wants to do the Tootsie Roll.

And, no, I did not step in it. I just see it all over and feel the need to rant. Next time, get a chimpanzee. They fling it, or so I've heard. Maybe it will hit your car and you can just wait for it to rain.