Hmm, I think I've used that title before. For those who aren't familiar with the line, it's also a title of a 70's tune made famous by Dionne Warwick.

I'm pretty proud of the city in which I live. It has been voted as the safest big city for the fifth year in a row by Morgan Quitno Press, a Kansas research firm that has been compiling the safest and most dangerous cities lists since 1995. Big is qualified as having a population of 500,000 or more, and with San Jo's 944,522 residents it sure belongs to the list.

What strikes me more in this study is that there are three Texas cities on the 10 safest (El Paso - 2nd, Austin - 5th, San Antonio - 8th and Fort Worth - 9th) and two among the most dangerous (Dallas - 5th, Houston - 9th). I guess everything's really big in Texas.

On the same week, San Jose was also voted as the second (or third, I'm not sure because I just heard it on Good Morning America) healthiest city for women by Self Magazine. Amazingly, San Francisco with all its health nuts only came in ninth in this particular study.

Ironically, I've been sick as a dog the past two weeks. I was so upset because I've finally taken steps to become healthier on my third trimester - walking with hubby in the morning and spending 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer at night. I think there was no escaping this sickness because a slew of people were sick at our work the prior weeks. I wish people would stay home when they're sick. Despite my attempts to take precautions - inducing gallons of OJ and other fluids, washing my hands all the time and staying away from sick people, the bug caught me good. After two weeks of coughing, my rib cage felt like I fell down a flight of stairs, or got beaten up by two men. The slightest movement hurt, and subsequent coughs or sneezes brought me pain. The baby's been a trooper through all this. I feel guilty about taking medication, even if they're deemed safe for pregnancy, but I also felt that not easing the coughing will be harder on him.

Further, I haven't had a chance to visit my newest niece (or cousin once-removed for folks here in the States) - Keira Christina. I have been looking forward to her birth and now I must patiently wait and ensure I'm fully well before I see her. Too bad I couldn't resist reading about the pain of childbirth in my cousin's blog. Oh well, after the pain of the last two weeks, all I can say is bring it on!

Vangie Fuhrman got cold on 11.29.2005 4:06 PM. |

I have been sick the past week, coughing and hacking away at everything and everyone. At first I was really worried for the baby, I think I was getting more stressed over what I'm doing to him rather than how I felt. For the first four days, I tried my best not to take any medication, toughing it out with gallons of OJ and water. After that, I couldn't take it anymore, and was getting worried about the effect of my all-night coughing to the baby that I took the over-the-counter medications that were considered safe: Tylenol Cough and Sore Throat and Robitussin DM (not together).

Due to this, I missed two days of work last week. This Thanksgiving week, our company is supposed to be shut down for the whole week, but some people in our department were "asked" to come in to finish our Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) internal audits. Is anybody else going through the pain of SOX? This has got to be the most useless, time-wasting crap process ever brought about by man. A friend of mine who has recently attended a graduation where the guest speaker was Senator Oxley said that in his speech, Sen. Oxley admitted that they realize this law wastes takes a lot of time and money and has caused some smaller companies to go bankrupt. One thing's for sure, neither Sarbanes nor Oxley would win any popularity award anytime soon.

So here I am, still coughing continuously, performing inane tests and audits for processes I have no involvement with. I just look at the bright side that I'm saving my vacation days, which will be especially useful when I go on maternity leave.

Speaking of bright sides, one external auditor I just met this week started to visit my office regularly. In the beginning he was asking for legitimate requirements but by the end of the first day he was teasing me a lot by asking for impossible things, getting my business card for every visit and chatting about movies and TV, while he's curt and strictly professional with others. Even my co-worker asked me pointblank "Why is the auditor flirting with you?" I said I don't know, maybe he likes pregnant women. My co-worker then peered at me and then said "Wait, he doesn't know you're pregnant!" I said that was silly for I look and feel like a whale. The next time he visited, I got out of my chair and faced him with my belly. Sure enough, he had this shocked expression on his face - he didn't know! I told my co-worker later on and we had a good laugh over this.

Vangie Fuhrman got cold on 11.22.2005 1:42 PM. |

This past week, to make room for the baby, we've had to get rid of this:



and this:



Although they are just "stuff", I am saddened by this. I used to run on that treadmill for an hour four times a week. It was the one thing I can count on when I feel I have to lose a few pounds. I loved my early morning run while watching Good Morning America on mute and listening to the headphones of the tiny radio strapped on my arm. That was my "me" time, when my family knows that I cannot be bothered and I won't stop for anything - not visitors, not phone calls. I remember the only time I cut my run short was on the morning of September 11, 2001, when I saw that plane hit the second World Trade Center tower, and my feet just instinctively jumped at the sides of the treadmill, while I was riveted at the news and found myself just watching the TV for the rest of the morning.

The foosball table was my Christmas gift to my sson a few years back. I remember how much fun my hubby and I had assembling it (no kidding), and how we futilely tried to wrap it, putting a big golden bow on top. And I'll never forget my sson's face as he saw the big blob of a Christmas wrapper, probably not knowing what's in it but his eyes widened just the same as he figured something that big must be good!

They both went fast at craigslist. We had a phone call 20 minutes after my husband listed the treadmill, and the foosball was picked up the day after it listed. I jokingly asked my husband - what else can we sell around the house?

Actually, this would be next:



I'm still using it for now as I've finally started exercising on my third trimester, and since it's the only type of exercise (aside from walking) I can handle.

So it's time to say goodbye to stuff, to be replaced with new stuff, to welcome the most important thing that will keep me occupied for a long, long time.

Vangie Fuhrman got cold on 11.11.2005 12:05 PM. |