Christmas Music

I love Christmas music, it is in my blood, from Grandma Whiting's famous Christmas Cantata's to hearing it coming from Ellen's room all year long. There is something about Christmas music that makes you happy. So I work in a fairly closed-in area with Brian (he's a fellow lab rat). We listen to my ipod, but he has some veto rights, for instance, I can't play the sound track from Mama Mia more than once a week, and Christmas music can only be played after Thanksgiving. That is certainly not to say that on any given Friday in July you could walk into my lab and hear Christmas music (Brian doesn't work on Friday's), or the occasional Christmas song "accidentally" gets put in the wrong play list. But the spirit must have been working this year, because he relented and we started listening to it yesterday.

I believe that I am the queen of Christmas music, I have over 340 Christmas songs on my ipod. All the way from Eartha Kit to Faith Hill. But let's face it, there are really only about 30 Christmas songs before you head into Thistle Hair the Christmas Bear territory. But I don't care how many times I hear Away in a Manger, it still makes me happy!

Sisters

Nancy, me, Ellen, and Laura

Laura, Ellen, Nancy, and Donna

Well, it is great to be home. Erik informed me that I was gone so long, he almost forgot what I looked like! Tonight I am heading to see Twilight with my Mom and two of my sisters. My sisters and I used to be able to spend a ton of time together, then they went and entered the world of professional women. As a result we have three very different schedules, so finding time to sit and visit, or better yet, shop for bargains at Target is next to impossible. Plus, my sister Laura lives over in Cedar City, and we only get to see her a couple times a year. So it is a rare treat to all go out to dinner, and then to a show. My sisters are really my best friends, next to my husband, so spending time with them is really treasured. In fact my mother is even willing to go see a vampire movie, just so she won't be left behind. Maybe because our time together has become so precious, I have learned to appreciate it more.

Be thankful for your water

OK, so the conference picked up today. I wanted to talk about how hard the people in my industry work to make sure that the water coming out of your faucet is the best it can be. Here is an example of a workshop I attended today, everyone has read the AP articles about pharmaceuticals in your water, how waste flushed through the water cycle end up in your water. Well the most authoritative person on the the subject gave a presentation today, he showed results from Lake Mead for the last 10 years, and yes they have found pharmaceuticals in the water. But, to put this in prospective, to get 200 mg of ibuprofen (like one motrin tablet) you would need to consume 7,000 glasses of water in a day! Isn't that amazing? People are worried about something that is measured in parts per trillion, and a whole industry is trying to eliminate something that most people don't think twice about popping into their mouth when they have a backache.

So since it is November, and a month for remembering to give thanks, I think people should give thanks for their water. At a presentation last night, a man showed water testing in Africa, where, if they are lucky, they only have a little bacteria in the water. So go to the tap and get a big glass of clean, chlorinated water!!!

OK, I guess it is time to give this blog thing a try. I have been lurking around reading a few others, and have decided to just go for it. I have no idea who, if anyone, will read this, but since I don't keep a journal maybe this will work a little.

So this week I am in Cincinnati at a water convention. It is a little intimidating, because most of the people attending are engineers. This is ironic since this convention is billed for technical people like me, looking for the newest analyzers and research. Today I attended a seminar that had a lot of people presenting who, obviously, english is a second language. So not only are thier statistics way over my head, half the time I don't even know what they are saying. I would feel really bad, except that at the end of the presentation they ask if there are any questions, and there aren't any. Not only that but everyone appears as confused as I am. No, I know I am not alone because I have a few comrades in arms that when truly pressed will admit to the same thing. So I will be here until Thursday morning, pick up some swag from the vendors, get a little from the presentations and head home for a lovely three day weekend! The best part is that Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy's are next door to my hotel!! Good thing Scott is getting a lot of overtime!