My wonderful wife usually has something intelligent to say. I belive in balance, a Yin and a Yang. So here is my not so intelligent blog that's not really a blog about my new shoes.

See there they are. They are ASS shoes!

Today is an extremely slow day. I am dreading tomorrow. My impending doom? Tomorrow will be my last day at work. I absolutely do not like the idea. Here is why I don't want to go on maternity leave:

1. I love working at IFF. Something new everyday to do. I learn all the time. I am lucky to be there.

2. My coworkers are awesome. I have made some wonderful friends and I will miss them to no end. I have never associated with other women or found them interesting. These ladies are super. We look out for eachother, have great conversations, help one another with questions, and they are not catty and gossipy at all. Just all around genuinely great people with quick minds and warm hearts. I have no social life outside my job. Pretty sad.

3. It seems too soon. I can still work. I am very tired by half past the day but I manage. The only thing I can't do is run as quickly down the hall and the stairs to pick up my sample submissions when they are done. I walk. I am still useful!

4. I will miss the fragrances. I love smelling something new every day. I love putting stinky things together that make something nice. I will never have the opportunity again to appreciate the pregnancy bonus--extra hightened sense of smell. (I get my own data points for sensory tests.) I have been dreaming since I was little to make my own perfumes and I got to work for the #1 company that does so.

5. I will be so bored. I have purchased fabric, crafts and books but I am not interested in any of them. Since we have so much baby stuff, my craft table is no more. What's the point? I am kind of excited to read my new books but I am too restless to sit still long enough.

6. I want to be active. I do so many things each day. I am fully aware that in seven weeks I will long to sit down. In the mean time, I am still not interested in enjoying doing nothing.

7. I will have no choice but to do Christmas shopping. Have you been to the mall recently? You try walking with packages and defending your tummy from rude, angry people. We should have done it a long time ago. "Should have" doesn't make it done.

8. I will eat junk food and gain unhealthy weight. I can usually eat bad food to no end and not regret it, but I am in baby mode so this time it will stay.

9. I am currently sick. My evil cold will make the transition more miserable.

10. Most of my day will consist of missing my husband and then not having anything interesting in my day to tell him. "Hi, Honey. I washed the dishes and watched Nickelodeon and made the bed and answered calls from 18 telemarketers."

I don't wanna go.

Today I had a huge surprise. The ladies at work gave me a very nice surprise baby shower. All yesterday afternoon and this morning I have heard about this dreadful meeting we will be having at 11:30. I was told three different topics the meeting will cover and whichever was the right one, I wasn't looking forward to any of them. After stressing myself out and dragging my feet thinking, "I don't wanna go!" it was a total shock to hear everyone yell "SURPRISE!" I got really scared and ran out and cried. The only thing I could think of to say was to let everyone know that I brought a notebook to the meeting. How sweet of everyone. We had pizza and cake and lots of presents. I listened to all the ladies' pregnancy stories, suggestions for names, and votes for boy or girl. I had not given any thought to everyone giving me extra work and keeping me at my desk this morning. I was truly surprised.

Thank you to the ladies in the CPA department.

This is Walt Jennings:

We were really lucky here at IFF yesterday to have him as a speaker. Walt Jennings is a GC pioneer and cofounder of J&W Scientific. I believe that J&W Scientific is associated with Agilent Technologies. According to my supervisor, we are fortunate to have met him because talking to him is like talking to the president and better yet, god of all Chromatography. Wow.

Walt Jennings gave us a wonderful presentation about columns. He really put things in perspective. I had no idea that he was so famous in the instrumentation world until after we listened to him speak. He was so smilely and excited to tell us everything he could about columns.

One of the things that impressed me most is his unfathomable dedication to his work. Walt told us that he is 80 years old. Chromatography has been very good to his life. Lots more smiles. He said that he is a teacher and he is determined to teach as much as he can and tell as many people as he can about how wonderful chromatography is until his last day. I have never heard anyone say something so passionate about their job/career path/research. Can you imagine loving your work that much? I like my job and I could never picture saying, "I would love to make fragrances for commercial products, extract and distill samples, get frustrated at interpretations of GC/MS, and constantly try to fix possesed instruments that hate me and never ever retire."

Walt Jennings was beyond impressive to meet and hear him speak. His personality was unbelievable and his work ethic was undescribable. I can't believe someone who is aware how much instrumental people refer to him as "god" would be so down to earth. This man actually gave his personal email address and said he will answer any question and he will never ignore any email. Quite inspirational.

When I went to the doctor on Tuesday, I was weighing in at 124lbs. So Mathmeticians..124-100=24lbs of baby so far. I have been getting kicked a whole bunch more, mostly at night. My tummy hurts sooo bad. Hmm...childbirth. I hope I can handle that if this is painful to me.

This Tuesday on the 19th, we will have an ob/gyn visit and some better stats.

The majority of family and friends have guessed our baby was a girl at the beginning of our pregnancy. More than half of everyone has since then changed their vote. I also, have no idea anymore.

Tonight Bryan and I had our first Lamaze class. Really fun!

We got to see some charts and listen to some helpful suggestions. The instructor was very nice. She handed out stuff and showed us anatomy models. She was very honest and told us what would hurt and what would be gross.

One of the anatomy models made Bryan and I laugh uncontrollably--the uterus. Each of the other models were factory made and realistic. The uterus was knitted. It was pink and white and blue and it kind of looked like one of the sweaters someone made for our baby.

We had a very nice time with relaxation music and breathing. It does make you more comfortable to breathe and relax. We are looking forward to next week. Super!

Today's title should be "Christine and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."

Gosh, if everything can go wrong before a quarter of my day is over, I am dreading to see the rest. I was up very late last night feeling bad. My legs now are killing me, I can barely walk. And my feet no longer fit into my work shoes. I lose my breath when I sit because the baby gets pushed up into precious air space, but moreso today for some reason. I chose the most uncomfortable clothes to wear today because we forgot to pick up our laundry and there isn't much left that fits. I have meetings of all sorts. The heat in the IFF building is over eighty in every room. We called maintenance over two hours ago. I had no choice but to eat a jelly doughnut this morning to celebrate a coworker's birthday and my stomach is making me feel the repercussions of an unhealthy breakfast. And of course the sugar is making my sweet child kick me from the inside like there's no tomorrow. None of my GC runs worked, I had to redo every one. Every printout has gone to the wrong printer, I had to chase all my printjobs. I freaked out in front of my boss because I thought I forgot to submit a sample that must be done today, but I found out I had submitted it two weeks ago and no analysis has been done yet. I have to contact Mass Spec to please make it more urgent. I was late this morning. I will be coming home to a place that needs cleaning and dishes that need washing. And on top of that, I have come down with a nasty cold. I am coughing and choking all day and night all weekend and still today, I feel so miserable. Wah wah wah.

1. Did you vote in your last elections?
The last election in which I voted was for pres W.

2. Do you know who your elected representatives are?
This election? Hardly has my mind been on anything but my pregnancy.
How self-centered and American of me.

3. Have you ever contacted an elected representative? If so, what was it about?
I have contacted several, but not lately. PETA news tells what stupid and cruel ideas governors and senators have about animal testing proposals or thinning out species. If I get mad enough, I write my own or send the suggested prewritten letters.

4. Have you ever participated in a demonstration?
Sure. I have not the time now, but in high school and college I was in attendance of several animal rights demos. I passed out fliers and chanted stuff and got information. I never was pushy and loud or sprayed old ladies' coats.

5. Have you ever volunteered in an election? What was the result?
Yes. We baked brownies and cookies and served coffee for voters when I was a cute little Girl Scout. Lots of people got coffee was our result.

I hope I have all my information correct, but this news is so exciting I have to tell.

We all got a group email today. The vice president of our department (she works across the hall from us) and her roommates JJ and PD are currently in Cambodia picking up a beautiful little girl! I think her name is Mae and she is one year old. They are shopping and doing paperwork at the embassy.

Congratulations, ladies! This is great!

1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith?
Yes, roman catholic.

2. Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not?
No. I never felt comfortable believing in what I can't see. I hate associating with all the phonies and hypocrites at church. Church feels cold and unwelcome to non-cookie cutter people. I find no logic in practicing "organized" religion.

3. What do you think happens after death?
People have a funeral. You might get reincarnated, you might not.

4. What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?
I love all the secular traditions of Christmas like family get togethers, cooking big dinners, decorating the house, and watching the kids get all excited with their presents. That's about it.

5. Do you believe people are basically good?
My parents think that my beliefs are evil and horrible. Mostly everyone else does not care and are fine with me being me.

According to IFF Top News, oranges, lemons, watermelons, pineapples, and tomatoes are considered berries. Why? I cannot find the info but I am still curious.

Dave, do you want to take this one?

Remember those of us who like Ozzy Osbourne when we were in school everyone picked on us? Bryan had feathery Ozzy hair in sixth grade and everyone teased him. (I want names.) I was called satan every day. Not satanic, but the dark lord himself. But we still liked him. Aside from the fact that his music was cool, much of the appeal of liking Ozzy was that everyone else found him repulsive.

2002. Ozzy has this stupid show, "The Osbournes." Yeah, I know I said I liked it but towards mid-season, it began to irk me how gross they live, how much beeping and swearing goes on in a normal conversation, and how squandered their lives seem to be. Ratings are ridiculously through the roof. People seem to relate to and/or find humor in living like trash. The commercialization and glamorization of foul mouthed people who live like this is crazy.

MTV licenses and peddles Osbournes magnets, t shirts, dolls, posters, clocks, lolly pops, action figures, calendars, a family cd, crap and trinkets of all sorts. Even friggin Halloween costumes!!!

I am sick of seeing Kelly on YM and Cosmo Girl. And seeing every piece of paraphenielia under the sun with their middle fingers. What's the point? When you overdo it, it's no longer offensive, just annoying. Every time you see them, there is so much whining. Why? Have we not everything?

I just don't understand why everyone likes Ozzy and his family so suddenly. The same people who made fun of me for my interest are buying crap and tuning in, diseasing and blaspheming yet another thing I liked.